Kyrie Eleison
by Da Games Elite
Summary: The old men at Seele grow impatient, and bring out their trump card: Star Aran, the new Fourth Child. However, his abilities take the spotlight from the other pilots, and his methods oddly irrational. Deconstruction/Parody of Mary Sue/OOC fics. SxA
1. Chapter 1

Usually I go on for a long time at the beginning of these fan-fiction intros, goin' in deep detail about how I really shouldn't be adding another fan-fic into my large list of uncompleted fics and all that, but I realize that this fic MUST be written. Why? Because of fan-fics like Neon Exodus Evangelion and Evangelion II: DELTA Invasion, which seem to insist that this amazing anime series should be submitted to numerous horrifyingly peachy changes that, quite frankly, I find both hilariously stupid and just plain…idiotic…I know I'm beating a dead horse right now, but my mission is to effectively deconstruct the reconstructions of the greatest anime deconstruction ever created. After you finish tying your tongue around that one, take a seat, and prepare yourself for…

**KYRIE ELEISON**

**By Da Games Elite**

**Part 1**

Down came the great blade in the scarlet machine's hands, cleaving through hide thicker than tank armor and flesh tougher than the meat of a great white shark, diving headlong through the blood and guts of the beast until the strange, curved head of the seventh angel, a beast with long, thin spindle like arms that soon dipped into the sea around it as the two disattached sides drifted apart, ropes of solidified liquid blood being the only bridge to connect them. The scarlet haired pilot glanced up, her mecha mirroring her every move, every muscle spasm, every gasp of excited, tingling air as she glanced up, her lips curling into a triumphant grin.

That idiot Third Child over there did see her, didn't he? He had seen the extent of her awesome potential, right? She chuckled to herself as she imagined the look on that stupid kid's face. To her knowledge, none of his fights had been settled so easily, had they? He had never so simply slaughtered an Angel as though it were just a tiny, itty-bitty chore, did he? Of course, to Asuka this was no chore: this was her debut battle, a book-mark in the history books where the German girl could sprinkle her influence upon, sign her signature in the canals of events in the world: the savior of humanity's first battle.

Oh, she could already hear the praise coming in.

"Well, how was that? A fight should be clean and elegant, without waste," Asuka said, a grin on her lips as she glanced over toward that stupid Shinji kid. After all, maybe the idiot needed a few tips from a senior pilot. Perhaps he needed to understand his role in the pecking order. Perhaps he-

The angel's two disembodied halves expanded suddenly, his flesh splattering off his hide as his cocoon was cast aside, two mighty figures identical to the creature Asuka had just slaughtered emerged, tall and mighty, proud and identical, save for alternating color schemes. What the hell! Hadn't Asuka just killed that damn thing? How dare it screw up her debut battle? No, wait, this was perfect! People loved a struggle, people loved hearing about how a savior salvaged the world from the jaws of defeat. This was her chance to be a savior! It was her chance-

Two jets of energy surged outward from the open, hollow eyes of the fearsome twins. Asuka had no time to evade. The jets slammed headlong into her chest. She felt her breasts burn as heat seared into her skin, into her mammaries. She cried out in pain, as though hellfire were burning her from the inside out, the Angels' fearsome blast projecting her into the air, high in the sky as she watched Shinji dart forward, ready to attack, firing his weapon wildly at the two enemy targets. To Asuka's horror, he saw his bullets hit. How dare he-how dare he take away her glory? This was HER time to shine, not his! He had won his debut battle, so why did he have to be so selfish as to steal away her moment of triumph? How dare-

The impact of her skull against the ground shock her body so greatly that all sounds and sights faded away in a sudden nova of oblivion.

#

"Fuyutsuki, I take it you're not calling me to deliver good news, are you?"

"I'm afraid not, Commander." Fuyutsuki hated being the bearer of bad news. Truly, it always filled him with some distinct sense of dread, especially when it came to talking to someone like Gendo Ikari. He'd known the guy for years, yeah, even played Chess with him on the weekends, or Go, or whatever other complicated strategic game one could play with another person (hell, he even played Poker with the guy, where Gendo's ordinarily static expression proved surprisingly useful), and yet every time he delivered bad news, despite knowing that the same, familiar voice would emerge on the other side, informing him that either this was a good or bad development, there were subtle tones in the man's voice Fuyutsuki came to appreciate that informed him whether or not his fearless leader was feeling pleased with the developments or would've enjoyed impaling the man right then and there.

Today, Gendo probably felt impalement was too merciful a punishment.

"I see. In that case, Fuyutsuki, you know the procedure. Do as you feel is right," Gendo replied, in that same monotone.

"Alright, I'll do that," Fuyutsuki said, unable to mask his own concern.

"What's bothering you, Fuyutsuki?" Gendo asked.

"Well, truthfully, sir? You."

"It isn't like you to be so apprehensive with me, Commander," Gendo replied, betraying a strained hint of amusement at Fuyutsuki's stress.

"Well, it's not that I'm worried about the Angel, sir. Everything should go ahead according to the scenario. It's simply that-sir, what's bothering you?"

The line was silent for a moment or two. Had it not been for Gendo's sigh of resignation, Fuyutsuki might have checked to see if the line had been cut. Soon enough, however, Gendo's voice returned to the line, once again amused, albeit in a strained, frustrated, monotone fashion. "It seems the old men have decided to play with the scenario in their own little way."

"Can you elaborate, sir?" Fuyutsuki asked his younger superior, his eyes confused.

"They claim they're impatient with our progress, but I fear they believe we're plotting against them."

"Well, aren't we?"

"Yes, but they shouldn't know that," Gendo replied, flatly, "Either one of us have spoken to Chairman Keel, which I seriously doubt considering how our goals benefit both of us, or they suspect something."

"Perhaps Ryouji Kaji tipped them off with all that underhand investigating he's been doing," Fuyutsuki replied, bemused. Kaji could search through every record in the building he longed for, but it mattered very little. Kaji was, as the term put it, playing with the big boys now. Oh sure, he COULD discover everything about Seele and Nerv and the Angels, even the authenticity of the Marduke Institute, but, in all honesty, what did knowledge matter if you had a bullet in your brain? Still, Kaji could be useful in investigating Seele to see what they had planned. "Maybe he can help us out in regards to this whole Seele-budding-in affair?"

"Perhaps, but for the time being we should simply wait to see Seele's first move, then work out a perfect defense. Fuyutsuki, report to me any changes Seele might try to make to Nerv while I am away. Keep me up to date every hour on the hour, understand?"

"I understand."

#

"So much for my debut battle."

Asuka sighed, lowering her head in frustration as she left the debriefing room. She leaned against a wall, holding a half-empty can of soda in her hands, tensely. She was about to chug the drink down in one gulp before considering it for a moment. Was she drinking because was she was thirsty, or because if she didn't eliminate something she'd probably punch through a wall? Was it the taste of liquids that probably weren't best suited for her health the best thing for her now?

Ah, screw thinking like that.

After downing the entire can and throwing its crushed form into the nearest trash bin, she punched a wall anyway. That idiot totally screwed up her battle. Sure, she had shouted it to his face in that assembly room, but then that idiot! He had the nerve, no, the balls, to call HER a show-off! The jerk! The stupid, stupid dummkopf! Asuka wanted to squeeze another aluminum can in her hands, just because the sensation of something being crushed would satisfy the beast within her chest for only a moment, but, slowly, she exhaled, slowly.

After all, she knew deep down who was the real reason for the fight's failure.

Herself.

"Ah, hello there, Asuka!" The German squealed Kaji's name upon hearing his voice, diving headlong into the scruffly-chinned man's chest, squeezing him so hard that the two of them might as well have shared a heart beat. They were, after all, perfect for one another. He took in his scents, an odd aroma that smelt like a mix of old alcohol (a classy sort of brand, of course, like a light bear or red wine, surely), cologne (only manly men wore cologne, which explained why Shinji the dork didn't wear any), and fabric softener (because Kaji could still use that in his clothing and still be more of a man than anyone else she knew). "I take it you're happy to see me?"

"Oh, Kaji, you don't really think I screwed up out there, do you?" Asuka asked, pouting ever so slightly, her lower lip sticking out just enough to give off that beautiful, angelic appearance all men swooned over.

"Oh, no, you did splendid! I wouldn't worry about a thing," laughed Kaji, patting Asuka on the head, "Although practice does make perfect, and you still need to learn a few things."

"Okay, I can accept that," Asuka lied, knowing full well that she was, at that point, the best Evangelion pilot there was, ever would be, and the only things she'd need to learn were any sort of modifications added onto her beautiful Unit-02, in which case she'd still learn how to use those sorts of modifications first before that IDIOT Shinji. "So, uh, what do I need to learn? Can you tell me?" Asuka asked, hoping to hear Kaji's voice again.

"Well, I could, but the thing you need to really learn requires a bit of a feminine touch. As you can tell, when it comes to girly things, I'm not quite a guru to say the least," Kaji chuckled, his lame joke leaving a smile on Asuka's lips, "But Misato does. Why don't I drive you there? We've already left your stuff there."

She was living with Misato again? Asuka sighed as she remembered Misato back in Germany. She drank so heavily, drinking all the time, often times only going through the motions of taking care of her. Of course, Asuka was the best even then, so maybe being around someone so-how to say it?-mighty and amazing was too much for her to handle. Asuka had that sort of affect on people, it was true. Ah well, whatever. Asuka knew Shinji was living there, so did that mean she was going to have to live with that dork too? Nah! They wouldn't do something like that. She probably was replacing the dork, and high time Nerv knew how to give priority care to their priority elite pilot.

"Alright, give me a ride over, Kaji."

#

"Have you received word yet, Fuyutsuki?" Gendo asked, curiously urgent.

Fuyutsuki sighed, frowning slightly, "Seriously, not at all. I've been going along with Kaji's suggestion about placing the pilots in close proximity to one another, working on their synchronization development. So far, I've got no news of any secrets the old men have. Take it with a grain of salt, but I really think you're way off on this one, Gendo."

"You had to be there, Fuyutsuki. It was the way Keel was looking at me."

"Gendo, you are aware Keel doesn't have eyes, right?"

Gendo was quiet for a few moments as Fuyutsuki chuckled to himself before responding, softly yet deadly, "Fuyutsuki, would you like a reduction in pay?"

"Well, quite frankly, sir, you do know I don't care much for money, and neither do you."

"Touché. Very well, maintain your observations, Fuyutsuki. Tell me at the first sign of any change, be it subtle or in your face, understand?"

"Crystal clear, sir. Crystal clear."

#

It was day three in prison. Shinji sighed as he baked his egg, glancing at it carefully, frowning slightly as he balanced it in the center of the frying pan, grinning as the white bubbled ever so gently before flipping it into the air, his oven mitts protecting his skin from the searing hot metal of the pan. He glanced up as the egg spiraled in the air, and landed majestically into the center of the pan, right where it belonged. All was right with the-

The splatter of yolk against the stove, accompanied by a grunt of frustration, reminded him of the redhead beside him.

It had been three days since Asuka moved in, and already he had grown to anticipate Asuka's every emotion. "Ah! Scheiße! ITSHOTITHOTITSHOT!" the red haired girl stammered, bouncing from toe to toe before running toward the sink, running water over the yolk that had splattered against her hands. Shinji's eyes widened as she shouted out to her.

"Wait! Asuka, you oiled the pan, remember!"

Judging by the cry of pain as hot oil splattered out over her hand and wrist, clearly she did not heed his advice.

Misato wanted them to do everything together, be it performing house-hold chores, to combat training, to cooking meals. Needless to say, in the end, they tended to all unanimously agree that Shinji's food was superior, though Asuka naturally said, rather than flat-out admitting she had all-around failed at producing anything resembling edible food, that Shinji simply was a pathetic excuse for a cook and that the German was only humoring him by even tasting his meals.

"Do you want me to get you some ointment?" Shinji asked, taking both their eggs off the heat.

"Whaddya think, stupid!" Asuka cried out before cradling her scarlet hand. Indeed, Shinji had no reason to really tease Asuka. While the burn was far from crippling, it certainly looked a tad severe. There were blisters forming already, and all her skin had turned a bright shade of crimson, much like her locks of shiny hair that tumbled over her lithe, narrow shoulders, hair that laid over her smooth jaw line, not prominent, yet not too soft, either, hair that framed her heart-shaped face, her skin ever smooth, skin-

Ointment! Right!

Shinji darted off to the bathroom, glancing over to Misato's room in the process, where she rested, groaning weakly, her room dark with a pillow plastered over her no-doubt disoriented ears. Didn't that woman need to lay it off the booze a little? Shinji wasn't one to talk, though, but even so, it would do wonders for her health if she simply didn't drink so heavily. At least she wasn't a violent drunk.

Shinji found himself in the bathroom, hastily opening up the cabinets one after another, searching for something, anything, to give to a burn victim. There was something for third degree burns, which was a tad too severe for just an oil splatter. There was one for napalm contact-what sort of kitchen disastors did Misato encounter here, exactly? Finally, he found a cream that should soothe Asuka's flesh after her close brush with pain. Shinji grabbed hold of the container, and sprinted back into the kitchen, only to find Asuka impatiently waiting for him.

"Took you long enough," Asuka replied, her anger strong, but her face betraying a hint of concern, a hint of anxiety. Shinji wordlessly knew what her concerns were, but alas left them unspoken. Best not to remind her of pain on top of her other sores.

"Hang on, lemme just spread this in on your hands," Shinji replied, using his shaky hand to open up the cylinder of off-white cream.

"Hey, what's that? Is it safe?" Asuka asked, confused, as Shinji scooped up a dollop of the solid liquid on his fingertips, "Are you sure that's safe? Where'd you find it?"

"Just hold still," Shinji replied, not answering any of her queries as he rubbed the substance into her comrade's flesh, his gentle fingers probing the soft skin on her hand, the gentle flesh underneath giving slightly under contact. Asuka winced, but refused to betray the pain she felt from physical contact, clenching her jaw tightly as she tucked her head into her shoulders, eyelids closed tightly over her eyes, lips pursed. Slowly, Shinji drew his fingers away, leaving her hand coated in the substance before wrapping an ace-bandage around the wound.

"I hope you know it's all your fault," Asuka replied, sullenly.

"Uh-huh. Hold still," Shinji replied, curling the material around her slight wrist, his skin brushing every so often against her gentle flesh. It's amazing how slender she was. Truly, up close, one realized how skinny she actually was. Just by making contact with her arms, Shinji could feel her bones. Alas, she wasn't anorexic or anything like that, and there was subtle flesh that his fingers gently stroked as he placed the ace bandage properly on her arms, but-

Stop thinking like that!

"Maaaaa~~aaaahhhh! Mornin', Shinji," Misato yawned, leaving her room after stumbling slightly, running her sweat sodden hair out of her eyes, "How's ever-Asuka! What happened to your hand?"

Asuka recoiled slightly, frowning before shouting, "Shinji screwed up again is what happened!"

"Me? Ya should've been paying more attention to cooking your eggs than-"

"Don't you spin this around to make me look like the idiot, idiot!"

"I was just cooking eggs! It's not my fault you couldn't synch right with me!"

"Watch it, dork!"

"Guys, guys, GUYS! Just tell me what happened in a single sentence, alright?" Misato asked, rubbing her temple, "And please, without yelling? Ohh…my head…"

The dark haird boy expected the German girl to respond first, but Asuka's face filled with scarlet, but Shinji could not tell whether this was out of embarrassment, frustration, or, perhaps, anxiety. After a few seconds of silence, Shinji exhaled, and spoke. "Asuka's hand was burned," Shinji replied, "She ran it under water, and didn't realize the oil was going to splatter."

Misato sighed, running her hand over her sweaty brow as Asuka stared up at her, eyes wide with fear for a moment or two. Finally, Misato spoke, her voice heavy. "Asuka, how serious is the burn?"

"It's nothing. I can't even feel it anymore," Asuka replied, gingerly raising her hand to flex each finger. With each movement of her hand, however, Shinji noticed her eyebrows twitch, her lips tighten, and her jaw clench. Misato, it seemed, noticed it too, as her lips pressed tightly together. The German's eyes widened in horror for a brief instant, but it was only an instant. "What? I'm fine! I can keep this up. Hell, a little burn like this is nothing at all to me! Let's do this. I'm ready for all this-this, uh-synch training."

"Asuka, look, I respect your enthusiasm and everything, but in your condition, I don't think you can hold a gun, or even a knife. I can't let you, in good conscious, risk this operation. Rei will replace you in this operation, and-"

Asuka was silent for the entire time Misato spoke, but the moment Rei was mentioned, her eyes flared open, and she shouted, her expression one of sheer horror, as though she had just witnessed the murder of her parents before her eyes and she was confronting the killer, "No! That's not fair! You can't do that! I've been working for three days, and Wonder Girl just doesn't have what it takes! She just doesn't! She-aah!" Asuka turned on her heels, and darted into her own room, slamming the lock-less door bounced back open, unable to hide Asuka as she crumbled onto her bed, hiding her head under a pillow.

#

Tears poured from the redhead's eyes as she sobbed heavily into her pillow. How dare they! How DARE they say she wasn't able to fight. They should wait, yeah, just wait for her hand to feel a little less stingy was all. She could move her left finger now just a little bit more than she could before. Why couldn't they just wait a little, and let her heal? This was her second battle. She couldn't just embarrass herself a second time in a row. She couldn't lose again to the same Angel! Not again!

And even worse, if the First Child beat her-!

Asuka remembered when they had fist met the blue haired freak, with her short cut wolfish hair and blank, vacant expression. All she did was just walk up to her and say hello. She wasn't insulting her or anything. Asuka thought she was being perfectly nice to the First Child by asking to be friends. She genuinely wanted to know her, too, though more out of convenience of being a pilot than anything else. All Asuka wanted was friendship, and what does that idiot do? At first, Asuka wasn't sure what Rei meant when she said she'd be friends with Asuka if ordered to. At first, she just assumed Rei was like a robot who only took orders, but then she noticed something more subtle.

There was something about Rei's tone that day, something in that ordinarily emotionless speech pattern that implanted a certain response in Asuka: fury. She was pissed off by such a callous, off-handed rejection. She wasn't being simply robotic: the German girl knew enough about that uptight jerk to know Rei thought she was better than everyone else. She always was out in class for special reasons, and she kept receiving so much attention from Gendo. Every time Asuka had tried to talk to her afterwards, Rei just gave her a quick, one word reply and walked away, but if that dork Shinji walked into the room, well, then Rei would glance over at him, approach him, and talk to him about God knows what. Sure, they didn't talk long, but they talked! Wonder girl COULD talk, it seemed.

Which proved she had emotions somewhere in that stupid head of hers.

Which proved she had purposely snubbed Asuka.

Which proved she had been a jerk to her.

And she was so weak, too! Asuka blew her away in the synch tests, so why would they replace an ace pilot with a stupid little girl like Rei? It didn't make sense to her. Asuka could be a better pilot with full-body third degree burns! There would never come a day where Asuka would accept help from a loser like her! A snobby, conceited loser like Rei Ayanami.

Her door slowly opened, her heart accelerating in shock for a moment, as Shinji walked into the room, and plopped himself on the bed beside her. He glanced at Asuka nervously before glancing away, almost as though he were a little ashamed. That dork was the reason she burned herself. If he hadn't been trying to just show off, she wouldn't have screwed up and none of this would've happened. Should've just stayed at Asuka's pace and just help her out a little bit. Then there'd be eggs for everyone! The dork could tell her cooking wasn't that good, so why did they need to synch when Shinji was cooking? That was Misato's fault. Hell, they were both to blame for all this.

"Are you okay, Asuka?"

She found her frustration melting away as she exhaled, finding her heart still racing, no doubt from some flurry remnant of frustration. No other explanation for it. "Yeah, I'm fine. Fine enough to pilot an Eva right now."

"Listen, I talked to Misato. She won't replace you," Shinji replied, straining a smile.

"What?" Asuka glanced up, her eyebrows raised in confusion.

"Well, I talked to her, and said how it really was my fault and Asuka-er-you didn't need to be punished for what I did by accident, so, I-uh-convinced her to lighten up the synchronization excises today so you'd be able to keep up." Shinji still averted her eyes, glancing instead at his hands, as though something about his long, slender digits perplexed him so completely that he didn't have the time to look at Asuka's azure eyes. Why was he avoiding her eyes? Nervous that she'd lash out again, probably. Nervous she'd yell at him or something like that. She sighed, running a hand over her face.

"You did all that for me?" Asuka asked, softly.

"Well, I just know how much this means for you, so-"

"Thanks," Asuka said, softly interrupting Shinji, "Thanks a lot. You may think you know, but you have no idea how much this means. It's a matter of pride."

#

"Fuyutsuki, nothing still?"

"Gendo, look, nothing interesting has happened! I know it's the day of the angel arrival and all that, but I am not exaggerating when I say that Seele has done NOTHING. I think you're getting a little paranoid."

"I am many things, Fuyutsuki. Calculating, yes, prepared, certainly, but never paranoid. Keel is planning something, and I think he do something today. Be on extra alert!"

The old man sighed, shaking his head in disbelief. Gendo must be losing his mind. Keel, as much of a calculating fiend he was, usually accidentally showed some of his hand before making a move. So far, not only had Fuyutsuki not seen any implication that Keel wanted anything at all, but now it was starting to appear as though Gendo was losing his mind out of the stress of his position. If this kept up, the only thing Keel would have accomplished was driving Gendo out of Nerv by reason of insanity…or stress, or whatever fancy name he'd use.

#

Asuka stood silently before her Unit-02. Her scarlet, skin-tight uniform was pulled tightly against her skin as she exhaled, slowly. She had failed last time. She was a big enough girl to admit it: she had messed up. A week of training was no doubt more than enough to grant her the strength to tear through her opposition, wasn't it? She flexed each finger gingerly, wincing every so often, especially when her own folds of flesh on her fingers caressed their kin, the subtle friction burning her hide. She reflexively felt a tear forming in her eye, as it tended to, she noticed, when she tested her burn, only to savagely brush it aside.

That was so annoying!

Asuka remembered the days spend laboriously training. At first, the pain continued to affect her in an awfully terribly way. After all, what good was a pilot who couldn't hold herself up with a single hand, or hold a rifle, or even brush her teeth without feeling a by now familiar ache in all five of her fingers? However, Asuka couldn't give up hope now. She had too much at stake here. She couldn't lose two battles in a row. No, that wasn't even an option. She was, after all, the greatest. Even that Third Child, as annoyingly pathetic as he was, wasn't that bad.

"Good luck, Asuka," the black haired boy said behind her, skin pale and clammy, shivering ever so slightly as he approached his purple monstrous mobile suit. What did he have to be nervous about? Nothing was at stake for him. After all, while he did have a gigantic reputation, it wasn't like he cared, did he? Asuka recalled one time after their combat training, had to be two days ago, where they had just decided to snack on some food. Logically, Shinji cooked, and Asuka waited, but she even needed a little help with her chopsticks (why did the Japanese have to eat with sticks, for Christ's sake?).

"A little more than that," Asuka teased, forcing Shinji to grab the larger chunks of meat with the chopsticks before placing it in Asuka's welcoming mouth, "There we go. Anyway, Third child, I hope you can keep up with my amazing moves during that battle. I just hope you don't go out of synch with me again."

"With you? Weren't you the one who fell flat on her face? I seem to recall that happening," Shinji replied, rubbing his chin as Asuka glared at him. She raised a fist into the air, only for Shinji to flinch, hiding behind his arms. He was such a bloody coward. Asuka lightly thumped her knuckles against his arm before turning back to her food, choosing to eat with her opposite hand so Shinji could have some of his own food. Silently, the boy accepted the gesture, and the meal continued. "So aren't you a little nervous, Asuka?"

"Huh? About what?"

"You know, piloting and everything."

Asuka considered this for a moment. "I guess I am a little, yeah, but it's more like I'm just worried that a dork like you is going to make me look bad."

"Had to turn it on me, didn't you?"

"It's my job," Asuka chuckled a little before chewing on food. After swallowing meaty chicken garbed in gentle noodles, the scarlet haired girl cocked her head ever so slightly before asking, a grin on her lips, "Why? What about you? Scared?"

"Well, yes, I am nervous. A little, anyway," Shinji replied, meekly.

"Whaddya have to be scared of?" Asuka laughed, "I mean, what's on the line for you?"

"Oh, nothing big. Only my life."

Those words rang through Asuka's head again, laughing at them on the inside. His life in danger? The Evangelion was almost impenetrable. It was an invincible weapon incapable of being truly damaged. Shinji was just a lame pilot. She had seen the combat footage of Shinji's earlier battles. Every time he had avoided obvious assaults, refusing to dodge or what have you to escape the line of fire. An elite pilot like Asuka Langley Sohryu, however, wouldn't have such issues. She grinned on the inside. Maybe she did need to teach theses stupid people a thing or two, didn't she?

Every day, Asuka couldn't sleep in her own bed, no, but rather in a Nerv hospital, where Dr. Akagi's nurses would attend to her hand, hoping to heal it before the day of the battle. While the German girl admitted her hand did feel better, it was debatable how affective all these procedures were. She flexed her hands again, feeling familiar, slightly dulled, pain now familiar to her surge throughout her palm.

She boarded the entry plug as familiar LCL poured around her, enveloping her, as she inhaled the beautifully gross liquid into her system. Alright, it was time to go. She knew it was ready. She heard Misato's words as her pulse quickened, but it meant nothing to her, really. Not a single thing. She said something to Shinji, some playful comment about him keeping up with her, and he responded with an equally playful tease, yet she knew neither of them cared what the others said, and knew they needed to say something to lessen the tension.

And then, they were off.

She traveled through the dark tunnel, projected higher and higher into the air as she emerged into the fresh air, arms outstretched like a swan diving into the sky, the familiar music she had trained to playing in her ear. Below her was the yin-shaped Seventh Angel, code-named Israfel in some of the documents. Israfel stood below them, glancing up with those same blank, infinitely empty eyes as light surged within. That was cue. With her good hand, Asuka's withdrew a small knife-like device from Unit-02's back, as did Shinji. The weapon extended sharply into a great spear as she flung it down at Israfel, perfectly in synch with the purple Unit-01. The Angel attempted to deflect the weapons, but only succeeded at redirecting the blades down its middle, bisecting it once again, until Israfel became two separate Angels once more, its old hide splattering against the buildings as it glanced up.

By then, the Evangelions had both landed.

Two nearby buildings unveiled two separate weapons. Hastily, Shinji ran for the automatic rifle, and Asuka extended her good hand for the laser blaster. As Shinji fired hundreds of bullets against the dual Angels, the scarlet haired Evangelion rested the gun tenderly on her bad hand's forearm, only to hold the trigger in her good fingers, firing jets of energy, jets that fired positron beams straight into the Angel's limbs, tearing through their flesh until visible quantities of blood spilled outward.

They were going to win!

Jets of energy surged from the clouds of impact, as anticipated. Shinji and Asuka spun backward in a synchronized fashion, twirling backward, only for Unit-02 to stumble, to fall, as pain surged once again through Asuka's burned hand. Tears surged through her eyes as pain anew enveloped her hand, no, wrist now too, as she slammed headlong into the floor, lasers slamming headlong against her Unit-02. Now MORE pain filled her, burning her chest just like it did before. She couldn't lose again! She messed up! She had fallen out of synch!

She could no longer blame Shinji.

She was the weak link now.

Bullets rang through the air against the two Angels. Asuka glanced up to see Unit-01 above her, firing heavily with the automatic riffle as he dove down beside Asuka, holding out his hand hastily as he fired with a single hand, the recoil of the great gun clearly causing his entire arm to tremble. As it shook in his hand, the bullets sprayed everywhere, sometimes tearing straight through the buildings adjacent to the Angel, but more often slamming straight against their hides.

He was still holding out his hand.

Now wasn't the time for a pity party.

Asuka helped herself to her feet, withdrawing her own positron rifle as she fired heavily into the crowd, frowning as Nerv's numerous rockets launched into the air, spiraling and dancing headlong into Israfel's two halves. They just needed to skip around a little, but they could still recover, couldn't they? Even with an injury, this was NOTHING for the German girl, easy as pie. She could barely feel the burns right now, after all.

The duo darted toward Israfel's two halves, drawing their fists back. With great pleasure, Asuka felt her knuckles slam against the scarlet Israfel's face, throwing it into the air, before she slammed the heel of her foot headlong into its core, throwing it backward. The two halves were merging, and their opening was now there! Asuka, a smile on her face, pulled Unit-02 into the air with Unit-01, twirling through the air as their feet extended forward, ready to penetrate the core of the Angel, ready to destroy them once and for all, ready to-

Two spine-like tendrils exploded from Israfel's cores, extended outward as their usually scarlet hue died suddenly to ashen black. The angel was lifted into the air, out of both Unit-01 and Unit-02's range, and the two mecha slammed headlong into the ground, tearing up the street around them before stumbling flat on their backs on the floor, their target out of reach, dead.

Asuka was silent for a moment, staring up at the dead, unexploded Angel before rising to her feet, a look of fury on her face before Unit-02 collapsed, out of power, on top of Unit-01. She heard Shinji audibly cry out in shock before Unit-01 also died down, the two Units laying in a humiliating heap on the ground. Despite her Eva's lack of energy, Asuka's passion could not be suppressed. "What the hell was that! You mean after training for past week with this idiot, after burning my friggen hand, after having to fight an entire battle and ALL that stress, someone else would take away my friggen, God damn-ARGH!" Asuka wanted to pull out her hair in frustration, but restrained herself, reminding her that, against burned flesh, her hair may as well have been barbed wire. She turned to face her "savior," her "messiah," wondering how long it took before she could crucify the idiot.

Standing behind her was a machine unlike any other. Completely black in hue, with two long tendrils emerging from its lithe, almost skeleton-like frame, this hunched over behemoth had no mouth, no jaws like other Evangelions, but rather an almost gooey looking appearance, with numerous eyes running alongside the side of his skull. His hands possessed three fingers, each one long and to a point, attached to strong yet slender arms. With every step it took, more of a sense of anxiety filled Asuka's heart. Was this thing another Angel? Was it another enemy?

And then, suddenly, the creature's chest opened. As expected, sitting squarely in the center of the creature, where its core should be, was a teenage boy, his long, flowing dark hair that fell to his shoulders dancing in the wind as he rose to a standing position. He was wearing, to Asuka's horror, a plug suit, black in color with blue padding on his shoulders and arms. He chuckled as he glanced down at the Evas, a grin on his lips that Asuka could even see from this distance.

"Looks like a job well-done, guys," the boy laughed aloud, his voice somehow emerging throughout the entry plug, his voice deep, yet possessing a certain sarcastic spring to it that kept him from sounding too much like the demon Asuka thought he was. After all, anyone who stole her victory from her was a monster in her eyes, and oh how she hated this bastard right then and there. "Still, you need to leave it to the professionals to handle these sorts of things."

"We ARE the Professionals, you dummkopf!" snapped Asuka.

"Who exactly are you?" Shinji asked, his tentative voice filling her Entry Plug as well.

"My name is Star Aran, but I'll be more than happy if you called me the Fourth Child."

#

"Gendo?"

"Fuyustuki, have the old men made their move?"

"I do believe so. Oh God, I think they have."


	2. Chapter 2

**Part 2**

"Did you hear about the new transfer student?"

"He's so dreamy, isn't he?"

"Look at that hair! So silky smooth and long! Don't ya know I love a guy with long hair?"

"Dude, I could go gay for Star, ya know?"

"Dude, I DID go gay for Star!"

"God damn it, I hate that fucking bastard!" Asuka snapped loudly to Hikari, the two of them glancing at all the numerous females of the class swooning over one, stupid little boy. God, that boy just pissed her off. The redhead thought that Shinji was irritating, but compared to someone like Star Aran, he was a saint. Just that voice was enough to drive her crazy now, enough to make her want to strangle someone.

"Asuka, he's not that bad," Hikari said, "It's just his fans start to get on my nerves after awhile, ya know?"

"Oh, you didn't see him when he came here, did you?" Asuka laughed, "I'm not supposed to tell anyone, but-you do know he's an Evangelion pilot, right?"

"Yeah, he told everyone the moment he came here," Hikari said, "How he was piloting Evangelion Unit-Omega-wait, aren't the Evas numbered?"

"Yeah, but that show-off jerk thinks he's too good for a number. Dummkopf," Asuka groaned, genuine hatred flowing through her veins. It wasn't just that he was loud and bombastic about his accomplishments, which were enough to fool anyone into thinking he must've been a modern Beowulf. No, it was deeper than that. It was the fact that he stole her victory away. It was the fact that, had it not been for that black haired douche bag, Asuka might still have a chance at supremacy.

Now, she was second rate to that bag of filth!

She recalled the moment following the battle. She had felt so humiliated, so disgusted. She had flexed each finger attached to her hand, feeling the bones bend against burned flesh. If only she hadn't lost time, if only then, maybe they could've killed the Angel before Star arrived, and then, if they had, Asuka wouldn't be left broken and humiliated, would she? She couldn't blame Shinji for this, especially not when a much easier target had paraded into her life so urgently and happily.

Shinji looked almost relieved at the prospect of having his fight end earlier. Asuka wanted to hit him against the head for that one. The jerk, feeling happy that the victory was ceased by another man, that triumphant jubilation had been stolen from them, that they had been denied the heroic bragging rights of victory after training their asses off all week long for this one moment! The doormat sometimes just pissed her off.

Though not as much as that doll Wonder Girl, who emerged from a doorway, her blue hair bobbing gently across the crown of her head as she left a bathroom near them. She glanced over at Asuka, her scarlet eyes locking with the German's blue irises, only to ask, in that familiar, irritating, so-subtly condescending tone, "Do you know if Commander Fuyutsuki wishes for me to join you in the debriefing room?"

Asuka and Shinji had been removed from their Evangelions but thirty minutes ago just to go into a meeting with Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki. This much was true, but to Asuka's knowledge, Rei wasn't invited. With a grin on her lips, the German girl prepared to inform Rei that she was not wanted, only for Shinji to interject with "Oh, I'm sure they want you to come, Rei. We're going up there right now, anyway. Do you want to come with us?"

"That would be agreeable," Rei replied, taking a stand right at Shinji's other side, as far away from Asuka as she could manage. That bitch! Had to throw in that final insult. Couldn't just stand next to her, no, had to stand next to Shinji the idiot instead. Raise his ego, why doesn't she? After all, walking into the debriefing room with two girls at his side surely would leave him feeling like quite the ladies' man. That kid needed to be brought up, yeah, but not on Rei's terms.

"Stupid doll," Asuka muttered under her breath as they arrived before Sub-Commander Fuyutsuki's front doors. The large slabs of metal drew open, allowing the trio of children access. The dark chamber was almost empty, the glass ceiling, floor, and surrounding windows revealing the great majesty of the Geofront around them. Ordinarily, it would've been quite a beautiful sight for any ordinary human being, even for someone like Asuka who came into the Geofront all the time. The experience was made worse considering that Star Aran was standing right at Fuyutsuki's side, smiling that smug, proud smile he wore so frequently. If Asuka wasn't mistaken, however, Fuyutsuki looked just as put off about this child's arrival as Asuka did.

She liked the old man a little more now.

"Alright, you three, come closer," the purple haired field commander said, her thick yet short maroon jacket dangling over her militaristic outfit, shorts cut short up her sleek, elegant thighs, her breasts pressing out against her attire, "I don't want to speak too loudly because what's going on is rather secret, alright?" Misato's face looked strained, as though the very acknowledgement that Star's presence had already placed boatloads of paper work on her desk at that precise moment.

"If it's secret, why don't we just go into a soundproof room instead of one made of glass?" Asuka asked, "I mean, it is a very big flaw in your logic there-"

"This room is soundproof," Dr. Ritsuko Akagi said, stepping forward, her white lab jacket dangling off her body. Seriously, why did everyone here wear such loose clothing and give the Eva pilots skin-tight stuff? "Don't worry about design flaws. Misato only wants it to be quite because she has a hang-over."

"Hey! That's not why!" Misato began, only for her voice to lower as she ran a hand over her forehead, unable to meet Dr. Akagi's eyes, "Anyway, everyone, what you all did today was very brave. Asuka, I'm extremely proud of you for continuing to fight even with your injury, and you, Shinji, for helping her. That takes a great amount of teamwork that most kids your age wouldn't be able to really pull off, so for that, I thank you." The black haired boy smiled brightly, as though Misato's words were the word of God himself, and, despite her anger, Asuka too felt her skin tingle in self-satisfaction at this. Misato was right, they did do a great job. So maybe she wasn't the champion of that day, but even so, she did succeed in her mission. So clearly, she was still a hero in some form, right?

"That doesn't change the fact that I still killed the Seventh Angel," Star replied, smiling confidently. God, the redhead wanted to strangle that bastard right then and there, "I couldn't have done it, however, without your help."

"I'm glad to be a help and all, but who exactly are you?" Shinji asked.

"Yeah, and why didn't you tell any of us about this guy?" Asuka snapped, frustrated.

"Hey, don't chew us out! We received a fax from the Marduk Report roughly thirty three minutes ago, but due to the fact that there was an Angel about to kill us all in the coming minutes, no one really noticed," Misato replied, her voice strained in frustration, "Look, we're just as surprised as you are, alright? We didn't even know there was a fourth Eva Unit currently operational at all."

"So this Unit-03-" began Dr. Akagi, only for Star to clear his throat. Eyes narrowed in frustration, the blonde haired scientist turned toward the offending throat-clearer, and asked, in a darker tone betraying her inner frustration, "Yes, what is it, Star?"

"My Evangelion isn't Unit-03. It was scientifically dubbed Unit-Omega."

There was a moment of silence as this stupid statement settled down. Asuka remembered distinctly how much she hated him at that moment. Star was so cocky, so arrogant. Unit-Omega? Unit-Omega! What kind of four-year-old named it that. What? Did he think he was too good to follow the perfectly logical numerical order of Evangelion units? Was he too good to simply go in line like everyone else? Thankfully, however, Ritsuko reiterated Asuka's thoughts in a coherent, relatively blunt manor. "No, it isn't. It's Unit-03."

"I already spray-painted the Greek letter Omega on its back," Star snapped.

"Well, then clean it off! It's Unit-03. It's the fourth Evangelion to be produced, and-do you call yourself Pilot Omega?"

"Is the Pilot of Unit-00 the zero-th child?" Star queried, smirking.

"Zero-th is neither a word nor logical," Rei replied.

Star turned toward the doll, about to say a word, but then a change took place upon his face, as though he had just now laid eyes on her. His lips parted for a moment as he approached her, waving off her complaint with a shit-eating grin on his lips. Only way to describe a grin like that, after all. It was so disgusting, so repulsive to the red-haired girl, that she wanted to puke. "Ah, well, I take it you're the First Child?"

"That I am."

"Well, you know me, I know you, let's be friends."

"What for?"

"Star Aran, get back here, we are not through yet," Dr. Akagi replied, a little louder than she probably intended. Star chuckled, waving her off, before reconsidering his gesture, turning back to her, and returning to Dr. Akagi's side. Ritsuko's exhaled slowly, clenching each of her fingers as she allowed her frustration to channel out of her body in the form of hot, searing sweat. "As I was saying earlier, before I was interrupted, the Eva will be called Unit-03 in the official documentation, but you can, for all I care, call it Pluto if you so desperately want. That doesn't change the fact that we need to fill in all the paper work for you to officially be added into our roster, as I'm sure you realize."

"God I hate paper work," Misato grumbled, shoving her hands into her pockets.

"Yes, of course I understand," chuckled Star, smirking.

"Very well then, the Marduk Report also informed us that your personal sponsor, a Mr. Ondorf, will be coming in the coming days after finishing a conference with the-uh-Marduk Institute." Fuyutsuki glanced down at Star for a moment before turning away, "That's it for now. You can leave. In fact, it might be preferred; I need to return a call to Commander Ikari." At the sound of the Commander's name, Asuka noticed Shinji's eyebrows narrowing, his lips tightening, as he flexed each of his fingers, as though he were ready to wrap them around a soft, pulsating throat. However, the expression was momentary, nothing more, and he soon returned to his submissive state.

"Why was Shinji asking like that?" Hikari asked after Asuka concluded her explanation.

"Isn't it more interesting to ask why the hell Star's even here?" Asuka asked.

"Well, yeah, but seriously, Asuka, I think you're over thinking this a little. Maybe he's a jerk, but he has every right to be here, doesn't he?"

#

"This kid doesn't have any sort of qualifications to be a pilot!"

Misato pounded the table with her fist fiercely knocking over a cup of hot, steaming coffee. Fuyutsuki glanced at the papers now doused in fluid, but the Captain knew that the Sub-Commander longed for worse than coffee spills to blemish the documentation the Marduk Report had sent them only a few days earlier. Ritsuko stood by Maya's seat, the short haired girl glancing back and forth from the papers now covered in coffee to Ritsuko's thighs. The poor girl had no idea that Ritsuko seemed oblivious to her emotions, and rather focused intensely on the paper work collected in her hands. She did notice, however, that Kaji continued to give her lecherous looks from across the table. Oh, if Misato was close enough, she'd slam her knuckles across that lantern jaw of his. However, now was not the time to embarrass herself before the board room of officials, and especially not the Sub-Commander.

Ritsuko deviated her attention away from one stupid idiot for a moment with her voice. "Misato's right, Sub-Commander. Maya and I did some research on the Fourth Child, and the only documentation we found on him is in the Marduk's Report. The report claims his mother is a woman named Samus Aran, and that his father is named Shigeru Miyamoto. Now, I don't know if you know anything about pre-Second Impact gaming systems, but Samus Aran was a video game character, and Shigeru Miyamoto was a major programmer at Nintendo! They may as well have said his mother was Lara Croft."

"Not to mention that all this combat training they reference in the documents has no basis in truth as far as we could tell," Maya replied, milling over her clipboard, "There isn't a single paper trail to prove it exists. Well, allow me to rephrase that, sir, there are documents backing up the information, yes, but none of them are legitimate in any way, shape, or form, and even a civilian could tell that due to all the amateurish mistakes. It's almost like they weren't even trying, sir."

"What sort of mistakes do ya mean, Maya?" Hyuuga asked, curiously pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Well, aside from obvious typos that a native speaker of his home country of America wouldn't make, they state that there were training missions that coincided during a time where the United States literally cut their funding for their military, so the fact that they'd, during this time, produce a gigantic mecha, or prepare to produce a giant mecha, without consent from the UN, is just absurd! There are numerous other mistakes, too, such as varying signatures from his legal guardian, Samus Aran, which is clearly forged because, according to the birth records, not a single person has ever been named Samus Aran in the time period where the documents were forged, nor did anyone change their names to Samus Aran, or anything like that."

"But surely Star's legal name IS Star Aran, right? They did get that at least straight, didn't they?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Well, yeah, he does exist, legally, but I couldn't find any data on his birth records," Maya concluded, blushing slightly, "More research needs to be done, but for the most part, all we have on him is the Marduk Report, and, quite frankly sir, I've seen cut-outs from supermarket magazines more legitimate than this."

"So what do we do?" Misato asked, cautiously, "Do we boot him off the project?"

"We do nothing."

Misato glanced up, her eyes widened slightly as a single figure emerged from the shadows. The dim light glinted off his glasses as Gendo Ikari entered the chamber, bringing with him a chilling aura of grand, muted ferocity. Ordinarily, Misato felt her pulse quicken around the powerful man, fearing not for her life, but of the power in his hands. However, now, laying eyes on this slender man, his eyes blocked out by the brilliant light glinting off the surface of his glasses, the Captain could almost smell the fury boiling beneath the icy surface of his face, a vehement beast that longed for nothing less than to tear someone to shreds, rip their heads from their shoulders and lap up the blood as it spilled over the ground.

"Commander," Misato finally managed to say, her throat dry, "Listen, I can't say it's the wisest course of action to just allow someone clearly unqualified to pilot. I-"

"Captain, it is your job to take orders, and though I value your judgment in moments of need and intensity, at the present moment I wish for you to hold your tongue for me to explain my rationalization," Gendo Ikari said, his voice soft and gentle, yet filled with a lethal venom that knew no equal, "The Fourth Child is clearly an interloper of some sort, and to trust him is as foolish as allowing Trojans to construct a horse for us. However, I fear that by acting now, we may invoke a greater danger than we are already confronting. We need to understand the child before we strike, and rest assured, we will strike. But not yet. Let's wait, and see. Perhaps the Foruth Child can even prove to be of use to me."

#

"Third!"

Shinji glanced over his shoulder, turning away from the disgruntled Toji and surprised Kensuke, as the dark haired Star approached them, his uniform unbuttoned carelessly as he approached, his prominent collar bone visible for all to see as he drew nearer, every joint in his fingers visible as he waved, a smile on his face. Shinji himself couldn't help but smile. After all, had it not been for Star, the Angel may have beaten them. Sure, maybe his methods were forced and unnecessary, but he certainly eliminated a threat, and, for that much, he couldn't possibly be all that bad, could he?

"So, is this seat taken?" Star asked, grinning as he pulled out a seat between Toji and Shinji.

"Nope. Knock yourself out," Toji replied, shrugging as he moved aside, allowing Star a seat at their table. He withdrew a box from his backpack as he leaned backward, hair falling over his eyebrows in a way that could only be described as cool. Truthfully, there was no other adjective to use at a time like this. He simply emanated intense coolness that could never be overlooked. "So you're the new guy, right?" Toji asked, smirking, "How does it feel to have all those girls after ya?"

"Oh, not too different, I guess," Star replied, taking out a sandwich made from purely white bread. Shinji listened as he withdrew beautiful terriyaki chicken from his lunchbox between his chopsticks as Star bit into his sandwich. "Girls are girls, ya know? Not much different here than they are stateside."

"Oh, you come from the United States?" Kensuke stammered, "I didn't realize they were making Evangelions."

"Well, production was under wraps," Star chuckled, "But they were confirmed by the UN."

"Nerv had no idea they developed one. Why didn't they just receive a memo or anything?" Shinji asked, honestly.

"Well, political reasons, probably. I don't really know, but, eh, what're ya gonna do?" Star chuckled before biting into his sandwich once more. Shinji chuckled a little at this before glancing off to the side, feeling the force of boring burning blue pupils in the back of his brain. He turned around to notice Asuka glaring at their table, her veins pulsating. The dark haired Japanese boy could almost see infernos of hatred searing out from her pupils, wishing death upon the whole table. "Ya know, I get the vibe that girl kinda hates me," Star chuckled, gesturing with his sandwich over at Asuka, her lips drawn tight.

"Oh, don't worry about her. She hates everyone. A real demon, if ya know what I mean," Toji replied, smirking. Asuka no doubt heard this, and huffing loudly, turned toward her own meal, gnawing forcibly at her food that Shinji had made for her as Hikari talked, glancing occasionally at their table for whatever reason.

"She's not that bad, Toji," Shinji said, frowning slightly.

"Well, I for one give ya credit for living with that girl," Star laughed, "Did you see the way she looked at the First Child before?"

"You mean Ayanami?" Shinji asked, frowning.

"Well, she just gave Rei a look the moment she laid eyes on her. Now, keep in mind, Rei wasn't doin' anything wrong, she just was walking by. I guess taking the Queen's air is a crime in the court of Germany or whatever Nazi country she comes from," Star said, laughing loudly at his own joke, a joke that even Toji and Kensuke couldn't help but giggle at. Still, Shinji frowned, struggling to hold back his own laughter. It was an immature joke, but it was just the way Star delivered it, that sort of off-handed callousness, that was just so funny.

Still, that joke didn't deserve laughter.

Shinji smirked.

"Look, guys, it isn't that funny," Shinji replied, noticing a quiver in his words, stifled laughter as the laughter died away, "And would ya keep it down? She might hear us."

"Look, the truth is that Queen over there probably is gonna bitch at you later, so why not get a little even?" Star asked, smirking, "She's a jerk to you. I don't see why you'd need to put up with her, right?"

"Hey, I like this guy," Toji replied, tapping Star on the shoulder, "Listen to his advice. Show that jerk who's-"

There was the sound of chair legs skidding across the floor as Asuka rose to her feet, her hair falling over her face. She glanced over at Hikari and then the teacher supervising lunch, and mumbled, "Bathroom." Without waiting for further instruction, she darted out the door and into the hallway. Shinji's eyes followed them for a moment before she glanced over at Hikari. Her eyes lingered at the table a few seconds longer before she glanced at her own meal, poking a chunk of meat with her chopsticks. After a few moments of poking, she mumbled, "Jerks."

#

Rei Ayanami stared out after the Second Child as she left the room. Through her gentle eyes, she saw the sight, unable to pass judgment. The voice of the Fourth Child had traveled all the way from Shinji's table, and yet Rei had not truly listened to the content. She did, at times, wonder what it would be like to talk to another. This ritual they had, sharing lunch with one another, appeared rather enjoyable and pleasing, and yet the nerve to approach an already formatted group and petition to join them seemed rather, how to say it, bold for the blue haired girl.

She was much more comfortable eating alone, anyway.

Lunch passed, as did the school day. The Second Child re-entered the room awhile later, her face wet and covered with water, water she was still patting off with a paper towel. Rei noticed her eyes were the wettest, though the consistency of the water surrounding that region was too thick to be mere water. Perhaps salty tears? If so, why had the Second Child bore a tear or two? What reason did she have to be unhappy?

The school bell rang, signaling Rei the day had reached its end. She walked off, out of the classroom, only for a figure to approach her. She did not wish to speak to the Fourth Child, even as he called her name. She did not care for the way his eyes ran over her form, or the way his lips curled, or the scents of his breath and body.

Most of all, she did not care for him.

Her opinion, however, was meaningless.

"Hello, Pilot Aran," Rei said, dispassionately, "What is the issue?"

"Nothin' much, just felt you wouldn't want to walk alone is all," chuckled Star, standing at her side.

"I see," Rei replied, glancing away, "If you wish to, you can."

Why was this boy following her so closely? She could not find any reason. Was he here to ask her a question regarding the Eva Units? No, his machine was unknown to even Rei, so that was something even she couldn't offer help on, and besides, Dr. Akagi was far more experienced with the inner workings of the Evangelion. No, why was he here? Why was he so close, smiling so frequently, as they left the school building, walking down the mostly vacated street toward her apartment complex? Was his apartment in close proximity or something to that effect?

"So, Rei-I can call you Rei, right?"

"If you prefer it."

"Well, anyway, Rei, what do you think about that Second Child?"

"Pilot Sohryu?" What were Rei's thoughts on her. She tried associating words with Pilot Sohryu that seemed to fit the Second's persona. Pride. Intensity. Passion. Arrogance. Cruelty. Yes, those words fit. Unwarranted cruelty to all those around her. Unwarranted cruelty to her peers. Unwarranted cruelty to Shinji. All that mean spiritedness bottled up inside of Pilot Sohryu's heart made Rei feel a rather tense emotion, one that drove her to long for some pottery to be thrown against walls. However, such an emotion was quite foolish. After all, it would be a waste of good pottery to throw a fit over Pilot Sohryu.

She probably had low self-esteem.

"I don't quite understand your question," Rei asked.

"It's very simple. What-"

"I know the words, but why do you ask?"

Star chuckled for a moment as he folded his hands behind his head, grinning. He considered Rei's words for a moment before speaking. "Well, it's no big secret that the Second Child is mean to everyone. Her anger is completely unwarranted, and, honestly, I think she should learn a lesson."

"What sort of lesson?" Rei asked, confused.

"Oh, well, just prove to her that she isn't the best pilot is all," Star replied, chuckling.

"Prove? How?"

Star chuckled at this, his lips curling ever so slightly to unveil a pair of sharp canines. "Well, quite simply, we one-up her. I mean, don't you get tired of her?"

"Tired? How does one grow tired of another human being?" Rei asked, curiously.

"Well, simply put, they start to, I don't know, want to punch them across the face," Star said, smirking. Rei considered this. Punching Pilot Sohryu across the face? It would be a far worthier target of this tense sensation coursing through her body, a more logical decision. Perhaps she would decide to punch the Second Child across her heart shaped chin, bloody her lips, bruise her eyes, but, then again, there were far better ways to relay a point than to just beat them down to the ground. She knew this very well.

Stroking her throat with her fingers, she remembered when someone else's hands had wrapped around her trachea, restrained the air in her lungs until all the life was drained from her limb, child-like body. She remembered seeing Dr. Naoko Akagi before her soul departed from her body, only to insert itself in the form she now took, the body she now possessed, a collection of thoughts, emotions, and sounds within a shell that could easily be replaced. Though ordinary humans might have to fear retaliation, Rei had no such inhibitions. If Asuka were to punch her back, while it may hurt, any injury inflicted that could cripple any ordinary human, she could fix. Pain and physical suffering were something Rei did not fear, beyond the fact that it was unpleasant.

Most unpleasant.

"Perhaps there are other ways," Rei replied, "Safer ways."

"I'm all ears."

#

"It would appear to me that the old men are planning something," Gendo said, his hands folded in front of his face as he glanced from Fuyutsuki to Ritsuko to Kaji. "Ordinarily, I wouldn't worry too much, but it might interfere with the scenario written out. This man who's to accompany Star, this Mr. Ondorf, he's a member of Seele, and the fact that the old men would send their own leaves me quite unsettled."

"I can see why you wanted Fuyutsuki and Ritsy hear, but please, tell me what little old me has anything to do with all this?" Kaji chuckled, grinning slightly, stepping forward, hands interlocked behind his back.

Ah yes, the triple agent. Gendo knew exactly what Kaji wanted. He wanted the truth, whether or not he could handle it, and he'd do anything to reach that end. While Gendo truly didn't care whether or not he lived or died, he'd rather have an ally than an enemy now that Seele had turned against them so hastily. "Kaji, what I want you to do is investigate this child. See what you can learn about him. I trust Ritsuko and Maya were thorough, but I fear that their espionage abilities fail to surpass your own."

Kaji chuckled at this, bowing slightly. Ritsuko looked slightly irked that Gendo would insult her abilities, but, understanding exactly what Gendo meant, smiled slightly. "I figure you want me to investigate Unit-03, correct?"

"That's correct," Gendo responded to the blonde doctor, "I have a strong feeling that creature is not a child of Adam, nor created from the same being as it. At the same time, however, I don't believe it to be a creature that Lilith would bare. No, that-"

"Lilith?" Kaji repeated, eyebrows raised. Gendo felt like running a hand up his face. He had forgotten Kaji didn't know anything about the Second Angel. Well, regardless, now that Gendo needed him fully involved in the project, he may as well have access to that information.

"Lilith is the Second Angel, Kaji, the bearer of humanity and Evangelion Unit-01 herself. Lilith, for lack of a better term, is our forerunner and the forerunner of all life on Earth."

"Great Scott, sounds heavy," laughed Kaji, "Ah well, 80's pop culture jokes aside, I do wonder how I hadn't heard of that yet."

"You'll hear a lot more if you give me substantial information about the Fourth Child," Gendo replied, "Additionally, I need you to see how he interacts with the other pilots."

"What should I be looking for?" Kaji asked.

"Behavior."

"That's oddly unspecific, but I'll do my best."

"You will, if you ever want to know the secrets you so desperately seek. And Kaji, just one more thing before I call this meeting adjourned, I want you to focus specifically on his interactions with the First Child and Third Child. At least, those are the ones that matter the most presently."

"I see, but what about Asuka?"

Gendo was silent for a moment. "While her safety is a concern, it is not paramount. She can be replaced, if worst comes to worst."

Kaji was silent for a moment, letting the weight of this statement sink onto his shoulders, before he lowered his head in resignation. "I understand, sir. I'll report everything I find to you."

"Good. You may all leave now."


	3. Chapter 3

**Part 3**

She wasn't supposed to cry, nor would she now. A few harsh words, to her, were like a few busted up golf-balls hitting a brick fence: nothing. Terrible metaphor, true, but Asuka felt that it held true for her. She was the great, powerful wall, and that stupid little Star was the golf ball slamming itself again and again against the surface of the wall until it was too busted up to even function, its white luster turned bloody scarlet, its surface cracked and battered, its form lost to the great Brick Wall War. She had to stop using that stupid metaphor, because there was one very major fault with the whole comparison.

If Asuka were a brick wall, a few bricks had yet to be installed.

She stood over the bridge, glancing down at the water below, water that flowed down, carrying deteriorating cardboard boxes along its stream, rubber tires filling with fluid as they carted themselves down the pathway, bobbing up and down. Asuka wondered if she was kind of like those pieces of trash that everyone could see and acknowledge were messed up, but no one bothered to go down to the stream to drag it out of the water. Was she no different from a stupid box?

Damn, her metaphors needed to stop being so damn depressing.

"Ah, so there you are. Wondering whatever happened to you."

Asuka glanced up to see, to her euphoria, a familiar pony tailed, poorly shaven man: Kaji. She darted toward him, wrapping her slender arms around his strong waist, smirking as she snuggled up against his chest. The man wrapped his arms around her, smiling softly as he did so. It felt so good, so warm to be up against his body, so comforting, as every muscle seemed to just sag ever so slightly. Relaxation settled over the scarlet haired German as she let her problems fall to the wayside for but a moment.

"Something bothering you, Asuka? You look a little down," Kaji replied, frowning.

"Well," the scarlet haired pilot stammered, averting her gaze for a moment, "it's just that-well, it's nothing I can't handle."

"Oh? Does it involve Star?" At the sound of that bastard's name, Asuka felt her fingers clench, squeezing the fabric of Kaji's outfit as her tight, powerful fingers wrapped around something, anything, to crush under her grasp. Kaji chuckled off-handedly at this. "I suppose I hit the nail on the head just there, didn't I? Just tell me everything."

"Well, it's just that they said a few things I didn't like," the redhead said, smelling the familiar scents of Kaji's outfit, basking in their aroma.

"Care to elaborate a bit?"

"That bastard-he called me a Nazi!" she finally snapped, eyes squeezed shut as she squeezed her fingers into tight little fists, "Okay? He called me a Nazi."

Kaji was silent for a moment, considering this news. All the German could do was feel the sensation of utter humiliation envelop her, ensnare her. A Nazi? She couldn't believe someone could ever say something so cruel, so callous, about her. Sure, she may call people stupid or what have you, but she would never go out and kill millions of people in the name of racial purity. When he had said that, when that bastard had said that about her, she felt a sort of insecure embarrassment sweep over her. He had said that so loudly, his voice echoing throughout the classroom. The redhead could feel all eyes land on her, as though they were all silently scrutinizing her, querying with themselves whether or not Asuka was, indeed, a Nazi. Whether she did gas Jewish people on a regular basis in her basement, whether or not she was an evil monster, as some of them might have wondered silently to themselves.

It was bad enough that they were laughing.

Shinji laughing was too much.

So she ran out of the room, unable to even look at Hikari properly without feeling her eyes staring her down, without feeling embarrassed to even look at her frigging best friend. Sure, Toji complimenting Star after his harsh words about her was one thing, but when Star started telling Shinji that she wasn't worth his time, that was when things started to hurt on the inside. She couldn't stand it anymore. She didn't want to think about this. She wanted to cry, but she couldn't. She didn't want to submit to the strong tears birthing themselves from her tear ducts.

And yet, when she thought of Shinji hating her, they came out all the same in the bathroom.

Mainly because, in truth, Star was completely right.

Shinji had every reason to hate her for what she did to him. He had every reason to just punch her across the face. His distaste would be completely justified, and she knew it. She knew that he had the right to just shout at her, to tell her she was a horrible wretch that should just kill herself. Still, she knew he'd never say that. He was too passive, too meek, too, dare she even say it, kindhearted, to do something like that. But still, just because he didn't do it didn't mean he didn't WANT to do it to her. Just because he was sweet and kind didn't mean he had no desire whatsoever to just punch the scarlet haired girl in the stomach, and give her exactly what she deserved.

Even the German girl knew she deserved it.

"Do you believe you're a Nazi?" Kaji finally said, running a finger up her neck to soothe her racing heart.

"No, no I don't," Asuka finally said, "But that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt to be called one."

"I understand. Whoever said being insulted was nothing at all was just stupid, really. Clearly had no idea how painful the words of someone else can be. When someone insults you, it hurts worse than even being shot point blank with a shotgun. It's a horrible emotion, and the fact that you're brave enough to face that sort of abuse and still keep fighting is proof that you are a strong person."

"Yeah, but am I any good?"

"Well, do you think you are?"

"I don't know. Maybe, but I don't know."

There was another moment of silence before Kaji said, slowly, "Is anything else bothering you?"

Another silence followed before Asuka said, softly, "Shinji laughed."

#

"A trip to Okinawa?" Shinji repeated, glancing at the field trip information, curiously raising an eyebrow, "Hey, Toji, I don't really think we're going to be allowed to go."

"Whaddya mean?"

The trio of Shinji, Toji, and Kensuke were walking down the street back from school. It had been a couple days since Star badmouthed Asuka, and, since then, while Shinji and his friends had grown closer to Star, it didn't mean that he didn't feel a tinge of regret. Ever since she ran out, the redhead had behaved oddly. She had a tendency of watching a lot more television than usual, sitting out on the couch, bag of chips in hand, as she stared blankly at the screen, clearly not addressing the black-haired boy at all. Whenever dinner was served, she'd eat it, and either go back to the tube or, more often than not, retreat to her room, where the boy could hear music blasting from behind the door.

"Do girls usually do that?" Shinji had asked Misato one night after Asuka left her half-eaten Miso soup behind.

"Well, when they're stressed out, sometimes," Misato replied, "Then again, depends on the girl, ya know?"

Stressed? Did Star's comments stress her out? Was it the fact that Star took away her "glory" as she kept insisting, whatever that meant? Or, as Shinji found himself questioning more and more, was it the fact that Shinji laughed at the Nazi comment that made her grow all worked up? Whatever it was, Shinji wanted to see the poor girl pull herself together, for her to just smile again as she used to, to just laugh a little more and call him an idiot. For her to just be human.

"But it's Okinawa!" Kensuke stammered, bringing Shinji back to reality, "They've gotta let you go! It's Okinawa!"

"Wow, that's a convincing argument," Toji muttered, "You should try being a lawyer."

"Aw, thanks!" Kensuke replied, not noticing the sarcasm.

"They might need the Eva pilots, ya know? I don't think they'll let me go," Shinji replied.

"On the upside, at least that Devil won't be joining us," Toji replied, "Oh, sorry, the Nazi won't be joining us."

"You know, in World War Two, we were on their side," Shinji replied.

"Yeah, but we didn't have Concentration Camps, did we?" Toji replied, smirking.

"Actually, we did," Kensuke and Shinji said almost simultaneously, but Toji wasn't listening.

"I feel a little bad for her, to be honest," Shinji replied.

"What for? She should take a joke once in awhile," Toji laughed, "She makes fun of you all the time, so why don't you just get a little even with her? I don't care if she's a girl or not; the way she treats you is just cruel. Star's right about that much."

"Look, don't get me wrong: I do like Star, I really do, but I live with Asuka. She's been really upset lately, and I think it's because of Star."

"Why do ya think that?" Kensuke asked.

Shinji glanced at his bespectacled friend for a few moments before saying, in a flat tone, "Kensuke, you do realize that Asuka ran and cried in the bathroom after Star said those things, right?"

Kensuke glanced at Shinji with his head cocked for a moment before saying, confused, "But I thought she just had to use the bathroom."

"I know that's what she said, but when do girls ever say exactly what's on their mind?" Shinji asked.

"Good point."

"Wait a sec, that would explain why Hikari's been really cold lately," Toji replied, frowning, "Maybe we were a little rough on her, but still, she deserves it."

"Well, maybe she does, but maybe we should talk to Star a little more about it, ya know?" Shinji asked.

"Well, maybe, but we can still call her a Nazi behind her back, can't we?" Toji asked, "It just has a nice ring to it, ya know? I mean, she's German, and-"

"So I see you're still discussing the Nazi?" Shinji turned around to see Star approaching, Rei Ayanami at his side. Rei's expression, always hard to read, had a tinge of discomfort on it, as though she had a bunion on the sole of her foot and the mere action of walking caused her to wince every so often, or perhaps that she had stepped in dog feces and the stench now wafted into her nostrils whenever she picked up her foot. Regardless of what the reason for her discomfort was, she looked inherently uncomfortable. Shinji didn't really have a clue why, though.

"Well, yeah, I get the vibe Asuka's kinda upset by that nickname," Shinji replied.

"Oh, well, I see," Star replied, shrugging, "So?"

"So maybe we shouldn't call her a Nazi so much anymore," Shinji replied, frowning slightly.

"Oh, I see. Why?"

"Because she doesn't like it."

"But she deserves it. I mean, look at the way she treats you half the time," Star replied, frowning just like Shinji, "I like you, man. Look, you're a nice guy. I can see that, and you're probably not used to doing things like this, but when a girl insults you, you can't just lay down and let them abuse you, ya know? You need to take command of the situation, and show her who's boss. Hell, it's the same with guys too, so don't say I'm being sexist or anything, because I'm not. If anyone does crap to you, you need to show 'em who's boss, ya know?"

"Yeah, I know," Shinji replied, frowning, "It's just I don't think this is the way to do it. There's got to be a nicer way, an easier way."

Star considered this momentarily before saying, "Just leave it to me, alright? I'll find a nicer way to deal with the Nazi, okay?"

"Fine, okay."

"I'll try to be nicer to her, okay?"

Shinji, somehow, doubted he would.

#

"Misato, Asuka's synch ratio has slipped up a little in the past week."

Ritsuko frowned slightly as she took a drag on her cigarette. Misato stared back at her friend's personal vice as she indulged in her own: a glass filled to the brim with amber bear, a foamy drink she gulped down with a look of muted joy on her face. She dearly cared for her friend, but the way she said that statement, it seemed devoid of real empathy, yet, knowing Ritsuko, she just didn't know how exactly to express herself as well as other people. In a way, she was sort of like Rei where she had emotion, but was just unable to really relay it as well as other people.

"Is there any change with how she's been behaving lately?" Ritsuko asked, curiously.

"Well, yeah, a little," Misato said, "I think she's depressed. Shinji told me something a few days ago about that Star kid. He's been calling her a Nazi."

"Oh, okay, and do you think it's bothering her so much that her synch ratio is dropping?" Ritsuko replied, "It doesn't sound THAT severe."

"Think back to when you were 14, Ritsuko."

"Asuka's 13."

"Even worse!"

"Point taken."

As Ritsuko flicked the ashes off of her cigarette into the ash tray at her side, Misato frowned again, the buzzed sensation of alcohol entering her bloodstream slowly filling her. She felt looser, and the inhibitions and hesitations of ordinary speech seemed to dissolve away like a frozen creek melting into a river. "What do you think we should do? I think we need to talk to Star about this. I don't care what Commander Ikari says: we need to make sure Asuka's happy and safe like the other pilots."

"We don't know for sure if emotion is distinctly connected with the synch ratio. As far as we know, it's concentration and connection to the Evangelion itself, and, as everyone knows, Asuka is the most dedicated to the program in regards to enthusiasm."

"What about Star?"

Ritsuko chuckled a little. "Star? I don't count him."

"Doesn't he have the highest synch ratio out of the four children? Doesn't that excite you a little?" Misato teased, only to notice Ritsuko's flat expression.

"I don't like his attitude," Ritsuko answered, "Asuka can be a little bitchy, and Rei can be unsettling, but at least they aren't so arrogant. That kid's gotta learn a few things about talking to adults. Unit-Omega my ass." The blonde haired scientist put out her cigarette after rising to her feet, a smirk spreading across her lips. "Maybe her synch ratio's dropping because of her not being able to go to Okinawa?"

"Hah, don't remind me of that," Misato laughed, a little more loudly than she had intended, "She pretty much acted as though I was the Devil for that one."

"Well, they should've known it was coming. They are pilots, after all."

"Yeah, but they're people first, and people need breaks. When was the last time you went on vacation, Ritsuko?"

"Well, I'm not sure. Had to be a few months ago when I went to that hot spring spa. Take those two there. Maybe that'll make up for this little disappointment. Maybe."

#

Was there some sort of higher power ruining her life?

First she was embarrassed in class. Then, she was denied a trip to Okinawa where she could be alone with Hikari for a little bit. And now, to add insult to injury, she was stuck with frigging Star Aran and Wonder Girl in a frigging swimming pool? While her friend could enjoy the warm comforts of volcanic waters soaking into each and every poor, she was treated to seeing that bastard's smug face every second of every day as cold water stabbed her flesh. On the positive side, Shinji was here, but he was working on homework that Misato had pushed on them. It wasn't her fault for not understanding kanji. Asuka was a college graduate. Why did she need middle school, anyway?

Still, helping Shinji was more fun than breathing the same air as Star.

Asuka approached Shinji, a smile on her lips. "So, whatcha doin' down there?"

"Oh, just an assignment on thermal energy's effect on matter," Shinji replied, "I'm sure it's easier than it sounds, but it still sounds so complicated."

"Oh, it's really nothing at all," Asuka laughed, "Ya see-"

"Ah, thermal expansion, huh?" Star laughed as he approached in his Speedo, arms folded over his bare, admittedly ripped, chest and abs, "Shinji, let me help you out with this."

"Hey! I was helping him out!" Asuka snapped, eyes narrowed.

"You know, you both could help me out," Shinji replied, a strained expression on his face.

"It's not that complicated, really," Star replied.

"Yeah, so let the college graduate tell you everything you need to know," Asuka replied, smiling as she drew nearer, only for Star to grab her by the back of her hair, and pull. The redhead stumbled backward, slipping on water. She caught herself with her still injured hand, wincing slightly as the impact surged through the burned skin. Yes, she was mostly healed, but that didn't mean it still didn't hurt a little. "What the hell was that for!" Asuka snapped, eyes wide with anger.

"No reason. Just that, you know, I felt you were asking me to help Shinji," Star replied.

"I said college graduate! I'm a college graduate!"

"Really? You too? What degree do you have?"

There was no way this guy was for real. No way in Hell. There was no way a university in America would allow this smug, pompous jack-ass to earn any sort of degree whatsoever. "I have a Bachelors Degree. How long did it take for you to drop-out of college, huh?"

"Oh, only after I earned my PHD in Bimolecular Science, Astrophysics, and English Literature," Star chuckled.

"What sort of bullshit school let you graduate?"

"Oh, only Oxford."

"Oxford-! You liar!"

"Nope, not lyin' at all."

#

"Oxford?" laughed Kaji, "Well, at least I know where to start my investigation."

"It's a good thing those microphones picked up that major amount of information, or else we'd never know where to start," Gendo Ikari's voice said at almost a whisper, "Kaji, I need you to set out at once. Your absence will be dully noted, and so will your arrival at Oxford. I need you to claim, officially, that you are there in regards to the Unit-02 pilot's needs. I recall that she went to Oxford, did she not?"

"Oh yes, she did for a year. Then she transferred over to Princeton," Kaji chuckled, "She didn't like the atmosphere there, I remember her saying. Too snotty. Too British."

"Very well, then. See to it that no one spots you," Gendo said, "Though I'm sure it goes without say, report to me the moment you find what you came for and are out of danger."

"Will do. Since I live dangerously, I might even send it to you as I'm running away for my life. This might be a bit fun, I'm not going to-"

A siren blared over Ryouji Kaji's words as red lights flickered around them. Gendo glanced up at this, frowning slightly. He rose from his seat, only to say, in a harsh tone, "You must excuse me. The Eight Angel has been found."

#

"This new angel was spotted inside a lava pool, and, at the present time, appears mostly dormant. We can safely assume that it is in an embryonic state and has yet to hatch from its shell. We need to capture this Angel in order to study it. If we find a live sample and bring it back, there's a strong possibility we can discover how Angels are born and, eventually, how preemptively hunt them down and stop them." Ritsuko took a breath before continuing. "Do we have any volunteers?"

"Oh! Oh! Me! Pick me!" Ritsuko sighed as the German girl raised her burned hand into the air, bouncing on her toes. Of course she'd raise her hand first. If Ritsuko had a dime for every time that girl pissed her off, she'd be filthy stinking rich by this point in time. She felt bad, but every time Asuka opened her mouth, it made her cringe a little on the inside. Regardless, she overlooked the bouncing redhead not because of her personal opinion on her, but rather the marks that had yet to fade on her skin.

"Asuka, this mission is too important for someone who is still injured. I'm sorry, but you'll need to serve as back-up."

"Back-up?" Asuka repeated, eyes wide, as though she had just been informed that her arm needed to be amputated. Ritsuko almost chuckled at this new emotion. It was almost a little funny to behold, though she felt bad for feeling good about Asuka's disappointment. She knew how much piloting meant to her, but her injury meant she could very easily ruin the entire operation. She needed to send someone with a high synch ratio. Someone who wasn't instrumental for their later plans to risk going into the magma pit. Someone expendable.

"Star, I want you to take on this important assignment," Ritsuko said, hastily turning toward the now grinning fourth child, "Only someone of your caliber with such a high synch ratio can pull off this major assignment."

"With all due thanks, I think Rei should-"

"No."

Star's eyes narrowed for a moment before he chuckled lightly. Why did he want Rei to pilot? No, Ritsuko knew why almost at once. If what Misato said was true, Star didn't like Asuka, and what better way to hurt someone like the redhead than to break her pride? Being chosen over Rei, a girl Asuka seemed to dislike, would be very rough for her. After all, Rei was a relatively weak child, very likely to slip up somewhere along the lines and fall in deep danger that could end her life.

"On second thought," Ritsuko mumbled, "Perhaps you do have a point. Rei, you will handle this mission with Star as a second unit. Shinji and Asuka will serve as above ground back-up in case either of you need extra equipment."

#

Back-up? They wanted her to back-up a blue haired doll and that arrogant, shamanistic pig? The scarlet haired girl wanted to punch something hard across the face as she felt the pent up frustration envelop her. On the positive side, at least she wasn't jumping headlong into pits of molten rock, but on the other hand, that still meant she wasn't proving herself. She cursed Shinji from the bottom of her heart for the accident with the eggs, even though he really didn't deserve her scorn and she knew it. All she had to blame for the oil burns were herself, and she damned herself constantly for that stupid, idiotic mistake.

"I'm kinda glad we don't have to go in there ourselves," Shinji sighed to Asuka, smiling slightly as he walked out of the changing room alongside Star, plug suit in gear.

"Don't worry, Shinji. If you don't like fighting, I can always take your place in the majority of missions," chuckled Star.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Asuka grumbled.

"Oh, I would," laughed Star before he approached his Unit-03. Unit-00, Asuka noticed was garbed in a rather odd suit, a large white, bulbous outfit that looked akin to something an overweight astronaut might wear in space. Large bold letters were arranged on the surface of the armor to spell out the words "D-TYPE." The redhead couldn't help but giggle a little to herself. Maybe it wasn't such a bad thing that she wasn't going into the magma pits now.

Rei emerged from the changing room, glancing at her uniform, curiously. She flexed each finger for a moment before glancing at a small button on her wrist. Maya approached the group, smiling happily. Asuka feared, for a moment, that the stupid lesbian might be aroused by the redhead's elegant figure, but, alas, once the German noticed that Maya's eyes landed on Rei, she knew that she was the last thing on the scientist's mind. "So, Rei, I see you're wearing the new D-Type Plug Suit. It's supposed to absorb the intense thermal energy generated in the magma pits."

"It doesn't feel any different," Rei replied, examining her frame a little more, glancing consistently back at the button on her wrist.

"Well, that's mainly due to the fact that you haven't pushed the button yet," Maya replied. Rei, after hesitating for a moment, pushed her thumb down on that eager little button. At once, she began to inflate like a balloon. The redhead's eyes widened as her body enlarged itself like a morbidly obese woman after inhaling enough helium to levitate the Hindenburg. Rei stood still, mostly unaffected, save for the fragments of blush filling her cheeks. Perhaps being rejected wasn't quite as bad as it sounded it would be.

"Is this mass necessary?" Rei asked, curiously.

"I believe it is," Maya replied, "I don't have the exact paper work on me right now, but I'm 88% sure all that mass is useful. Don't worry, it's a one time thing, most likely, so you don't need to wear it ever again, and, since it's Top Secret equipment, any and all photographs of you will be stored in a deep vault somewhere far away so no one you know will ever see you in this position."

"Not if I can help it," Asuka chuckled as she withdrew a cell phone from a nearby bag, "Hikari, hope you're ready for a laugh."

"Asuka, don't," Shinji whispered.

"Fine, spoil sport."

#

This new attire was awfully uncomfortable.

She felt a burning sensation that seemed to keep her from glancing into the eyes of Pilot Ikari. Rei had no qualms about glancing over at the boy on an ordinary occasion, so why now, of all times, did she feel so uncomfortable at the prospect of simply making eye contact. It was a meaningless gesture inherently, so what made her feel so uncomfortable, her stomach knotting under the layers of flesh-like spongy material separating her skin from her second layer of skin: her plug suit. She felt her slim figure being enveloped under layers of inflated material, and, for some reason, whenever she acknowledged the width of such fabric, she felt inwardly uncomfortable.

She envied, for a moment, Star. Apparently, the scientists had been unable to develop D-Type equipment for Unit-03, and, for better or worse, the Evangelion had already been pre-formatted to fight in temperatures found in the depths of the magma pools, and, for the most part, be unaffected. Knowing that his Eva was nigh impervious to the heat, Star made it a point to laugh, poking Rei in the now smothered stomach while teasing her. This made Rei feel even more uncomfortable.

As she prepared to enter her Evangelion, Rei became aware of a figure behind her. She turned on her feet to see the tall, bespectacled appearance of Commander Ikari, standing a few feet away. For a moment, both were silent, before Gendo said, his lips neither tense or overly relaxed, "Rei, are you sure you're ready for this?"

"Of course."

"You aren't afraid, are you?"

"No, I am reasonably concerned for my safety, but nothing more than ordinary."

"I see. Well then, Rei, I have faith you'll be fine today."

"Thank you."

"Rei?"

"Yes, Commander?"

"That outfit is very funny. I'd advice you to have better choices of clothing in the future."

Rei felt a strange sensation well up inside her throat as the Commander left. It rippled out of her mouth, but it sounded, almost, like a giggle.

About twenty minutes later, Rei found herself in the Evangelion Unit-00, her machine being slowly lowered into the deep recesses of the magma pool. She silently waded downward alongside Unit-03, also attached to a crane on the surface. Rei was quiet, slowly breathing in and out as she felt warmth surround her on all sides. She was grateful for the suit's mass, as it did absorb the majority of heat welling around her, causing the LCL in her plug suit to, for a moment, sizzle. She was sure that was just her imagination, however, because, as the seconds passed, the sizzle slowed to a nonexistent crawl, the seconds passing as she saw lava ooze around her. Every few moments, a voice in her ear would ask if they wished to dive deeper into the pools, only for Dr. Akagi to query whether or not they dove deeper.

Every time, Star shouted "Yes!"

As the seconds passed, Ayanami heard her D-Type armor being pushed inward as the pressure rose around her. She winced, slightly, as though her own plugsuit was being pushed inward. However, after every moment of shock, she found herself relaxing almost as quickly. Her heart was racing, but why was it racing? She was fine, wasn't she? Star was here to protect her, and, no matter what emotions she associated with Star, she was going to be fine. She was going to live. She would live fine, and be able to see Pilot Ikari once more after this entire situation had concluded.

Why did she care so much about Pilot Ikari?

She recalled recommending to Star a few days prior to, during the next mission, allow Rei to pilot instead of Pilot Sohryu . She knew the Second Child felt strongly about her. She had animosity toward Rei that the First Child found deeply upsetting. From the first moment she laid eyes on Pilot Sohryu, Rei felt distaste course through her veins. She knew the German girl was a bad person deep down, just by the way she treated Shinji. How dare she be so cruel to him? She treated him with contempt, and always insisted she was the greatest pilot of them all.

How dare she be so mean?

"We have made contact with the Egg," Star's voice rang in Rei's ears. Had she grown distracted from the scenario? She glanced before her to see the egg drifting in the lava before them. Unit-03 extended his hands, alongside Rei's Unit-00. A great cage of lasers formed around the oblong egg, and soon Rei felt the comforting sensation of the cranes drifting her up to the surface. She exhaled, slowly, as she watched Unit-03's AT Field spread out, ensnaring the egg within the cage, swirling energy sealing what Rei came to realize was a fertilized Angel from freeing itself from the shell. In fact, as Rei watched, she witnessed the creature de-evolve, reduced from an adult to its most basic embryonic state.

Star could de-evolve Angels.

Just how powerful was he?

#

"Oh, so the big-shot Star is so great just because he can make an Angel younger. Big deal," Asuka snapped, "It's still alive, so what good is it going to be to have a living Angel in Nerv headquarters, anyway? It's a stupid idea if you ask me." The redhead sighed as she glanced over to the wall separating the male hot spring from the female one, warm water caressing her sides. Her burned hand, surprisingly, felt comfortable here, as though the warmth of the water was soothing her tense nerves.

"Still, isn't it kind of weird?" Shinji asked, "I mean, Star must be really good if he can just make Angel's younger, so clearly he's something special and all, but even so, it's kinda weird he can do that. Did you know the AT Field could make an Angel younger?"

"Honestly, no. I don't even know what an AT Field really is, but ah well. I don't want to think about it. Still, I find it really weird. He said he went to Oxford before, but I don't remember ever seeing him there."

"Huh? You went to Oxford?"

"Yup! I don't mean to brag, but I am a college graduate."

"Congrats, but-er-why?"

"Whaddya mean why? Wouldn't you want to get school out of the way if you were a super genius like me?" Asuka laughed, leaning her head against the wooden wall.

"Hey, listen, uh, about a few days ago, you know, at school, I'm sorry."

Silence filled the air for a few moments. Asuka sighed, lowering herself deeper into the water before mumbling, attempting to sound off-handed as her lips curled into a grin, "Don't worry about it."


	4. Chapter 4

**Part 4**

"You must understand, Mr. Kaji, that Miss Langley's files were transferred mostly over to Princeton upon transferring."

"Uh-huh, well, are you sure there wasn't anything that you have that could help us?" Kaji replied, frowning, hoping to fool the old woman into going into one of her British cabinets so that Kaji could simply investigate the entire school system. Surely Star Aran's folder was in this large room somewhere, this room filled with drawers that rose to the ceiling, draws as wide as the room, bins upon bins of history where, no doubt, some information on Star Aran resided. Sure, there were computer databases, but there he could be traced. That is where Ritsuko and Maya failed. A university like Oxford would no doubt keep physical and digital records of all their students.

"We are quite thoroughly sure," the nameless, plain looking woman advising him stated, "Now, if you want information, I advice you go to Princeton, where we transferred just about everything."

"Just about implies there's something left over."

"I apologize for my poor choice in words," the woman replied flatly, glancing through her glasses at the investigator, "But I don't know what to tell you. We have nothing of use to you people." Why couldn't the stupid woman simply distract herself examining tea leaves or going to Hogwarts or whatever it was British people did? Kaji wanted to just tear this room right down and look through every file himself, but, alas, he could not so long as he wasn't granted permission.

Wait a second. Didn't he have the legal ability to do things without permission?

"Well, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to do a little research on my own," Kaji chuckled, plucking a pair of keys from the woman's fingers, her eyes widening in shock, as the agent undid the first shelf, conveniently one starting with "A."

"Wait, you don't have permi-that's not even her drawer!"

"Maybe someone made a mistake and put Asuka's documents under A."

"If someone did that, they'd be fired immediately for incompetence!"

"Well, maybe you should trim the fat from the school more often. Or, alternatively, off of your hips."

#

"You're saying she's getting off easy. What does that mean?"

Rei glanced at Pilot Aran as he coughed into his hand, his pale skin glistening with sweat as he smiled, sweetly. Judging by the trembling motion traveling up his limbs as he began to speak, the Fourth Child had begun to grow ill. It was probably unwise for him to travel about in a t-shirt at school, and yet he chose to ignore his illness as though it weren't there. Rei wanted to inform the pilot he was neither indestructible or immortal, but chose not to point the obvious out to a man clearly too stubborn to listen.

"Well," Pilot Aran began, clearing his throat loudly before continuing, "isn't it obvious that she's still a jerk to Shinji? Do you really think she learned anything at all if she's still being so much of a-cough!-ass?"

"I'm not sure I understand how Pilot Sohryu is connected to a donkey," Rei said, seriously.

"It's a figure of speech," Pilot Aran mumbled, waving off her question as though it didn't matter as he stared, unfocused, into her eyes, "Look, what's important is that Pilot Sohryu, Asuka, stops bugging you."

"Bugging? I thought she was like a donkey, but now she's an insect?" Rei replied, somewhat confused, yet not betraying her true thoughts. Indeed, she knew enough about the lexicon to understand what words meant what, even if they were slang, but, alas, perhaps by frustrating Pilot Aran, he'd leave her to solitude, where she could avoid the germs he continued to cough into his arms and hands, germs he seemed to ignore to wash away or clean, germs that squirmed silently on his skin. Rei had no issue with viruses and bacteria, but, alas, he himself was starting to resemble a giant virus metaphysically. After all, was Rei not sick in a different way because of this boy? All this talk of vengeance and violence.

Just earlier that week, Rei went along with Pilot Aran under the pretenses that this would somehow manage to teach Pilot Sohryu a lesson. Though Pilot Aran seemed to overlook it, there was a melancholy tint in the German girl's eyes, a tint that seemed to send an odd sensation through Rei's chest, much like when you walk out into a rainstorm, only to acknowledge how, if you had thought logically, you would've brought a raincoat or umbrella to save yourself from the onslaught of water. Alas, this current emotion was akin to that, albeit much stronger, soaking her straight to the bone with pain.

What name did this sensation have?

"You know what I mean," Pilot Aran finally mumbled, running a hand up his sweaty brow, "Jesus, I need a drink. Thirsty as hell. Look, this is important, so, uh, we need to take the spotlight away from Asuka again next battle, okay?" Despite this soaking emotion filling Rei's body, she nodded. "Good, well then, Rei, I was wondering, if you weren't too busy, maybe we could hang out later."

"I need to see Dr. Akagi later today."

"What for? Can't you skip?"

"That is not an option."

"Tell her it's important."

"She won't accept that reason."

"Let me talk to her.

"Not an option."

"If you insist."

"I do."

#

"So do you have any new info on that egg the Fourth Child brought in?" Misato asked, sipping a cup of beer heavily as she approached Ritsuko from behind. Before them were hundreds of computers, with only an eighth of them occupied by technicians, before a large mechanism surrounding the egg of the Eighth Angel: Sandalphon. The blonde haired scientist ran a hand over her eyes as she removed her eyeglasses. As she rested her eyes, she sighed for a moment, glancing up at the ceiling, before pouring a cup of coffee down her throat. "Well?"

"To be honest, Captain, nothing new. I'm surprised, but it seems as though the Angel actually died during the age reversal process," Ritsuko sighed, "It seems that, by suddenly shrinking all the organs, the AT Field forgot to restore the bodily hormones meant to mature the Angel, and thus kept it perpetually frozen at the embryonic state, which, for all intents and purposes, means all we know about is one other stage of the angel's development. Granted, that's more than we knew before, but it doesn't teach us how Angels develop, or how they grow, or what have you. All we do know is that the angels start off as embryos, and some of the premature organs and how the core is present at whatever stage the angel regressed to. Still, we don't know how long it takes to reach this stage, how long it takes for the angel to mature, or anything like that. To be honest, it's like finding a goldmine only to find that the mine's full of fool's gold. Completely worthless."

"All is not lost yet, I hope."

Misato turned at the odd, old sounding voice, as a new figure emerged from the shadows. All at once, a creepy feeling filled the purple haired woman's chest as this new man entered the chamber. He was not dressed in militaristic attire, but rather a long, flowing dark robe, a massive cross hanging gently above his solar plexus as his aged form entered. He wasn't that old, perhaps mid-fifties or early sixties, and, while his flesh sagged slightly under the weights of time, his hair peppered, more weight than black, he held himself like a gentleman just growing into adulthood. His tall, slender frame was somehow unsettling, as though he were a specter rather than a man.

"Uh, right. Who exactly are you, sir?" Misato asked, confused at this clearly Western man entering the confines of a high-security Japanese military base. Did he just wander here like some old geezer, looking for his house only to stumble upon a base where-no, that wasn't possible. The doors required security cards, so clearly he was either invited here or, now, worked here.

"I am Infidee Ondorf, Pilot Aran's personal sponsor, one could say," chuckled the man dressed in priest's robes as he entered the room, hands behind his back as he stared down at the egg, "I do say, these are extraordinary machines here."

"Now hold on just a second here," Ritsuko stammered, stepping in front of Mr. Ondorf, hands outstretched, "You don't have clearance to be in this room, so you need to-"

"I have clearance to be everywhere," Ondorf replied, flashing a badge from within the confines of his cloak. Misato recognized the card as having the same sorts of emblems and symbols as Commander Ikari's card, and, to her horror, even more. Ritsuko's eyes widened as she stared at the card, her eyes specifically focused on one symbol in particular, a weird looking triangle with seven eyes along the side, four on one side and three on the other. It looked pretty cool, but just staring at that symbol seemed to be enough for Ritsuko to back away, cleaning her glasses as though to prove that badge hadn't simply been a smudge.

"Well, as you can see, we're pretty far along with examining the egg as best we can, but we can't determine how it grows or what have you yet," Ritsuko replied.

"My good lady, surely you realize the truth about how the Angels develop already," Ondorf chuckled, his voice deep and with a slight tremble, as though to establish both strength and frailty simultaneously.

"What are you saying?" Ritsuko asked, slowly.

"Angels are born from the womb of God, of course."

"Uh-huh. Look, I don't want to have an argument of faith, but God is not a scientific reason for anything."

"Why not? Can you prove God does not exist?" Ondorf asked.

"No, which is why it's not science! Scientific theory is falsifiable, but God isn't. Ergo, science and religion are two separate things. I've met a lot of scientists who're huge believers in religion, but, right now, we're looking for biochemical reasons for development, not religious statements, alright?"

"But can you not prove God has an impact on-?"

"No, I can't! Look, I appreciate you're trying to help, but our studies on the Angels have nothing to do with science-er-God. Alright?"

A look of frustration crossed Ondorf's eyes, but, with a chuckle and an understanding smile, he replied, "I understand. I will leave you to your work. Take care, gentle-women." As he left the chamber, robes dancing in the air, Misato exhaled, shaking his head. Figured there'd be a religious nutball onboard. Acts of God were all well and good, but at the present time, they didn't need a Messiah so much as a victory.

And, so far, Pilot Star Aran had failed to really succeed at anything without stealing triumph from someone else.

#

"So does this mean I'm officially on the fighting roster again?" Asuka asked, clenching her fist tightly.

"Yup, all your burns are healed, so you're free to do as you please," the nurse at the table said before walking away, leaving Asuka grinning silently to herself. She flexed each finger, smirking. She had been hurt for so long the sensation of simply moving her hand without a flash of pain was an uncommon emotion. Sure, she felt a little weak, but regardless, she was ready to fight, ready to kick Angel ass. That douche Aran had hogged the spotlight with Wonder Girl for too damn long. Now it was time to reclaim the stage, as she rightfully should. After all, she was an elite pilot, and even that asshole couldn't take that away from her.

"Pilot Sohryu, you have a visitor."

"Huh? But I'm almost gone-ah, well, send her in." As expected, Hikari walked in, smiling softly as she entered the plane chamber, plopping herself down on a seat at the German girl's bedside, smiling ever so slightly. Asuka grinned too at her dark haired friend's freckled face. "So, how're you feeling?" Asuka asked, "You look like you just won the lottery or something."

"Well, no reason," Hikari replied, averting her friend's gaze as a blush crept up her list.

"Aw, c'mon, you can tell me."

"Well, it's nothing big or anything, but, uh, I think I have a-a-"

"A crush?" Asuka asked, grinning slightly.

"Yeah, kinda." Though Asuka herself never saw the beauty of essentially finding a member of the opposite, immature, disgusting sex attractive, unless that someone happened to be Kaji, the redhead could appreciate the joy in finding a special someone to date, or to fall in love with. Regardless, she was happy for her friend. She truly was. She imagined who the lucky bachelor could be. Definitely not that asshole Star. She'd be crazy if she fell in love with that creep. Maybe it was that guy who sat beside her-nah, couldn't be. He had no personality. It was almost like he was just there to be part of the scenery or something.

"So who is it?"

"Well, do you know-yeah, of course you know-oh, I'm so embarrassed." Hikari hid her scarlet face behind her hands, her freckles standing out even behind her digits.

"C'mon! Just tell me already! You're driving me crazy with all this suspense!" How embarrassing could it be? What? It wasn't like she had some sort of strange fetish or something for anthromorphic animals or swallowing people whole, so how embarrassing could it possibly be to confess her crush? Couldn't be that bad, could it? Unless it was a complete idiot, how bad could it possibly be?

"Well, you know Toji, right?" Hikari peeked behind her fingers, only for her to stare at the German's slack jawed, wide-eyed, mortified face. In her shock, the school rep hid her face behind her hands again, smiling sheepishly as she masked her face with scarlet, the blush even running up the backs of her hands. Asuka didn't care how weird she looked. The news that her best friend had a crush on one of the Three Stooges, specifically the one that took pleasure in calling her a Nazi, now that was just too much for her to accept just at once like that!

"You're not serious, are you?" Asuka stammered, wide eyed.

"I am."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"You're not just messing around, right? This is the real deal?"

"I think so."

"Are you on drugs or something?" The redhead stammered, "I mean, he's so stupid, and he's an idiot, and he-and you-and me-and he-and-just what's going through your head?"

Hikari inched backward, blushing still as she tried to articulate her no doubt incoherent emotions. After all, any romance between someone as smart and cool as Hikari and Toji the idiot was just too much for ordinary words to coherently relay. "Ya see, I know he looks stupid and all that, but I honestly think that, underneath all that-"

"There's a bigger idiot."

"Lemme finish," Hikari replied, her voice changing to sound much like a mother correcting a little, ungrateful child. After Asuka paused for a moment or two, Hikari continued. "Well, a few days ago, I saw these kids making fun of Shinji, you know? I think you were out for a period having your burns treated, so you didn't see this all. They weren't making fun of him to his face or anything, but were just calling him really wimpy and all that. Well, Shinji didn't hear anything, but Toji did. I was about to tell them to knock it off, too, and right when I walked over, Toji had already approached them, and handled the problem."

"Handled the problem? Whaddya mean by that?"

"Well, he punched them across the face outside of the classroom."

"And he didn't get in trouble?"

"Well, I kinda didn't report the incident." This was so unlike her friend. Ordinarily, if someone spoke out of line, she'd threaten to report them, but now she here she was, overlooking a major incident like someone getting beaten up all because she liked some guy? This was out of character for her, but, at the same time, Asuka couldn't help but smile a little. It didn't seem like her to do something like this, yet Hikari seemed so happy on the inside, so giddy, that she had done something good for someone else by not reporting their misbehavior, but more than that, it was for someone she liked, a romantic interest. After all, Asuka didn't have anyone to really feel all too strongly for, except for Kaji, so she never was put in that kind of situation, where she could help the person she loved.

Right?

"Do you have any crushes, Asuka?" Hikari asked, smirking.

"Huh? Oh, nope, none for me," laughed Asuka, "I don't think I'm really the type to do something like that, you know? Plus, all those disgusting pigs at our school aren't good boyfriend material."

"Oh, I thought you had a crush on a certain someone."

"Who?"

Hikari giggled. Something about that giggle made Asuka's lips tighten in anxiety. It was the type of giggle someone had before informing you that you failed a test, or the laugh a sadist doctor trying to look normal and restrained had when they realized they needed to perform surgery without some sort of pain killer. "Well, I always thought you had a thing for Shinji, really. I mean, you two are always together, and-"

"That's because we work together. Seriously, though, you don't really think I'd end up dating that stupid idiot, do you?" laughed Asuka, waving Hikari's suggestion off as ludicrous and insane, "Seriously, me and the idiot? C'mon, you can't-you are serious, are you?" Hikari's face had that bashful grin still plastered on, a key piece of evidence that not only she had thought that the two of them were an item, but that she still believed Asuka had a crush on that black haired, skinny idiot. "We don't have anything in common, and we argue all the time. C'mon! The next time you're gonna pair me up with someone, at least make it someone halfway attractive and manly."

"But you really like him. I can see that. Besides, he's such a brave person for going into that Eva, even if he doesn't show it."

"Hey, I pilot the same thing! It's not that hard."

"Well, yeah, maybe, but we all know you're tough. Him? He doesn't look it, but I think he's just as tough as you are."

"Please don't say that," Asuka sighed, "The last thing I need is to be put on his level."

"Look, it isn't that big of a deal," Hikari replied, smiling, "I mean, let's face it: it's not like you two hate each other, right?" Asuka was about to rebuttal that statement when she thought about it. She didn't hate Shinji, no, not at all. Occasionally she'd be a little intense or cruel to him, but hatred? No, certainly not. Maybe a little jealous from time to time, but hate? That was such a strong word, too strong to describe her emotions for him. Far too strong. It might even be too great to describe that idiot Rei, but, alas, she wasn't sure about her yet.

"Maybe you're right."

"I know I am. Hey, do you want to get out-"

Sirens flared.

#

"Another Angel already?" Misato sighed, running her hands over her face as she glanced over at Ritsuko.

"Not quite," Ritsuko replied, frowning slightly, "I'm not entirely sure WHAT'S happening, but there's something going on in the volcano we found the Angel egg in. We think it has something to do with the Angel, or maybe the age regression of the angel, but, regardless, the creature inside that thing is generating a Yellow Blood Pattern."

"What does that mean?" Misato asked, eyebrow raised.

"Well, do you want the long answer or the short one?"

"Short, please."

"We don't know what the fuck we're doing."

"That sounds about right," Misato sighed, "I'll just call up the children."

"I have already taken the liberties of doing just that." Misato glanced over to see Ondorf emerging from the shadows, a slim smile on his lips. God damn that idiot, taking Misato's responsibilities into his own hands. She didn't care if he was above her in rank: she enjoyed calling people down to help her out. It was a personal sense of satisfaction. It kept her from feeling too much like a screw-up, and here this guy was, taking that one, simple joy out of her life. What was he? Who did he think he was? She didn't care if he was a high ranking member in the UN or something, she wanted to just swear him off.

"Wow, he's more proactive than you are, Captain," Ritsuko chuckled.

"One more word, Ritsuko. That's all I need right now."

#

"Dammit, if you say 'I'm sorry' one more time, I'll kick you."

"Alright, I'm s-er-right." Shinji should've known by now not to just talk so much. Half of the things she said to Asuka just pissed her off more, so why even bother talking to her? Well, then again, half of the time the two of them had some pretty interesting conversations, so really it was more like playing the lottery with better chances. Sometimes he'd win and have a bit of fun talking to someone who wasn't nearly as intense as she'd like to seem, but other times, she'd end up dealing with a girl mad. Today, it seemed to be the former of the two.

As the elevator rose higher into the air, Rei staring off into the distance blankly, the scarlet haired girl glanced over at Shinji, a glint in her eyes. "Just be grateful I'm in such a good mood," Asuka grinned, her plug suit squeaking slightly as she stretched her arms into the air, the fabric pulling against her breasts, "I mean, no more burns, Star sick in the infirmary, things finally seem to be looking up for me, ya know what I mean?"

"How is Star being sick a good thing?"

"Well, we don't need him for anything around here. He's just flashy."

"Didn't he save us twice from the Angels?" Shinji asked.

"Jesus, for a boy, you sure are pathetic. Lemme spell it out for you: we would've won the first time without him. Second time he just used some Deus ex Machina pulled out of his ass, but the first time he just stole victory from under our noses, kinda shamelessly at that. He's no hero: he just has good luck."

"I guess, but still, he did make an Angel age backwards. That's kinda cool."

"Parlor tricks, Shinji. Parlor tricks."

Soon enough, the three children had reached the platforms to board the Evas. As they boarded their great mechas, Shinji felt a twinge of confusion fill him. The scarlet haired girl had, for a moment, been so harsh and critical of him, but now they were talking as though they had been friends for years as opposed to a month or so. It was odd, but Shinji felt free to talk to her, as though there weren't any walls separating them apart, as though they were old friends from years ago. It was a rather good feeling, to say the least. Comforting, soothing, dare he say it, even happy.

The Evas were brought up by airlift over to the volcano, every second anxiety springing into Shinji's heart. Piloting an Eva was always a painful experience in some form or another. After all, it was possible Shinji could die again. He thought back to the first time he entered an Evangelion. It felt like an eternity ago, despite only being a matter of months in the past. There he was, confronting a great monster, pain filling every nerve in his body, horror at the prospect of dying in a battle he didn't even understand. Such an experience had never reoccurred, and yet, whenever he allowed the familiar, thick LCL to fill his lungs, he queried how long that calm might last. Was this peace, or was it just a dull pause before the typhoon blew in?

Was this paradise, or hell?

"Alright you three, listen up!" Misato's voice spoke as her image appeared before Shinji's field of vision, "There is a strange, unidentified creature living in the volcano. We don't know what it is or where it came from. Ritsuko believes it may uncover a secret as to how the Angels reproduce."

"How they reproduce? You mean they might have mating patterns?" Asuka stammered, "But what do they do? They all look genderless, except for the Fourth Angel."

"You never fought the Fourth Angel," Shinji stammered, confused.

"Dummkopf! I looked at footage! The thing looked like a giant schlong!"

"Asuka, don't say that. You sound like a-not very polite person," Misato replied.

"Oh, coming from the woman who teases Shinji about taking advantage of you? Yeah, like I sound whorish next to that," Asuka laughed.

"That was low."

Eventually, the great robots were deposited before the volcano, staring up at it. Asuka glanced around, mumbling, "So, what's the plan?"

"We left a few weapons behind you," Misato's voice said. Shinji glanced over his shoulder to see numerous guns sticking out of the ground, their barrels pointed toward the heavens above. They reminded Shinji of the sword in the stone, the blades Arthur needed to draw before harnessing ultimate power. Smirking at his own imagination, he drew out the first weapon he could find: a gigantic Progressive knife. This weapon, however, was larger than any progressive knife he had ever seen, at least half the length of the Eva's torso, it bore more in common with a katana than anything else, except sturdier looking, almost mighty. He wasn't complaining about the differences, however. Either way, it was powerful.

Asuka seemed more practical, however, as she drew out two Positron Rifles, one in each hand. Rei glanced over from Unit-00, withdrawing a massive Gattling gun. "Pilot Sohryu, the kickback from those two weapons makes it incredibly hard to use. I don't believe that's the best weapon to-"

"Oh, put a sock in it! I haven't done anything all week, and I'm ready to rumble," Asuka laughed, a grin on her lips. Shinji could see her face from the monitor, her smooth, graceful skin twisted around her lips as she chuckled to herself, ready to fight, ready to rumble right then and there. She looked almost like a hellbound angel, ready for a brawl, ready to tear their foes apart and scatter their fragments to the winds. Shinji felt his heart accelerate as he stared into her face, his lips curling into a smile as the very earth below him trembled, flames and fire surging outward into a great inferno of hell.

"What the hell!" Shinji stammered, leaping backward in terror as the volcano exploded into the air, the upper layers torn aside. Lava seeped out below them as the sky turned black with ash vaulted high into the air. Shinji stared as a single, great hand tore out from the opening of the mountain, prying open the mountain as a second hand aided the former. Slowly, a great beast rose from the ashes from the depths of the Earth, a horned beast with the head of a great boar, yet possessed a body more akin to a lion. Indeed, its magma mane even resembled the King of the Jungle's own signature hair. However, other than that, it resembled a man in all except posture, for, as it leapt out of the mouth of the volcano onto the ground, it stood on all fours, roaring a squealing battle cry as it glared at the opposition, fire snorting out from his malformed nostrils.

"That's no Angel," Rei mumbled, indifferently.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Asuka snapped, aiming both Positron Rifles forward, "Well, let's see if the bastard bleeds!" She pushed down on the triggers, her arms flying wildly backwards as the kickback of two massively powerful guns forced against her. Shinji watched as the red mecha regained its balance and footing, and also watched as the positron blasts ran headlong into an AT Field, tearing through it as it collided into the beast's shoulders. Alas, however, the beast remained erect, standing into the air fiercely as it squealed yet again, darting toward Asuka with the force of a brute.

Shinji watched, helplessly, as the creature collided headlong into Unit-02, the guns flying out from her hands, as it was forced into the ground. The poor mecha struggled to push the beast off of it, but, alas, it forced both of the red machine's arms to the ground as it roared into the air, dominating it in strength. The demon leaned in closer, teeth bared, its rows of sharp canines oozing silvery saliva. As it was about to dive headlong into Unit-02's skull, a shower of bullets rained down upon its side. The creature squealed in pain as Unit-00's Gattling gun ran out of bullets, and Rei was forced to load a second round.

The demon, however, seemed to take note of this.

Abandoning Unit-02, the beast turned toward Unit-00, running straight for her. Despite loading a new round of bullets, and firing them headlong at the beast's face, the massive lion-like bore continued to progress forward, as though the bullets were just as annoying as Sakura petals flying into his face. No, Shinji couldn't just let both Asuka and Rei be injured by that beast. He had to be a man, just like everyone told him to be.

With the speed of a jet engine flying through the atmosphere, Shinji leapt forward, katana raised high above his head as he slashed down across the beast's lower belly. The pig squealed as blood was drawn, albeit only a little. The molten life-fluid peppered the ground, melting it instantly. Indeed, even the katana began to sizzle and melt in Shinji's hands. He cast it aside, withdrawing a new one from the pile of weapons. Right next to that katana, Shinji noticed, was a rocket launcher. He smiled, softly, as he withdrew that weapon as well, holding it against his shoulder with the katana in the other.

He had a plan.

The demon pawed the ground before sprinting right at Shinji. He held the katana right before him before drawing back his finger on the trigger of the rocket launcher. His rocket soared forward into the air. As the projectile collided straight into the beast's snout, Shinji kicked off into the air, launching Unit-01 high above the beast. The purple machine arched majestically over the pig-like beast, sword raised above his head, as he threw it down straight into the crown of the monster's skull. Unit-01 landed safely behind the beast as the force of the explosion forced the katana to drive straight down the beast's hide, his own magma blood thinning out and even melting the skin before the blade.

The blade stopped midway through his body.

The boar demon did not fall.

"What the hell?" Shinji stammered as the beast turned on his heal, roaring at the top of his bloody lungs, liquid spewing out of his body, splattering over the ground onto Unit-00's gattling gun. The weapon melted in her hands as she dove backward, evading the range of the death liquid. Was there no stopping this beast? Shinji had just severed through nearly every vital organ he could possibly hit. He was spewing blood everywhere. Why did this beast still glare at him so passionately? Why did it refuse to fall? Why didn't it just die!

The demon darted forward, roaring loudly as the magma blood splattered everywhere. This was it. He was done for! He acknowledged this even as he felt a foot collide sidewise against his face, throwing him backward. Unit-02 stood above him, holding him down as magma blood flew into the air, showering over them. Her AT Field sprang to life, the magma sizzling against it, but never penetrating it. The demon, unable to stop, ran headlong into the volcano, tumbling back into its ripped open depths. Shinji noticed that the reason Asuka didn't simply push him out of the way with her hands was due to the fact that she was holding onto two Positron rifles, one in each fist. She leapt back into the air, guns pointed down, as she soared over the magma pit as the beast tumbled down into its infinite, bright depths.

After a satisfying splatter of impact filled the air, Asuka fired.

Upon impact, the magma ignited. Shinji had only seconds before the entire mountain range exploded upward, hellfire spewing into the atmosphere. He darted backward as the ground was ripped into the air, levitating above the lava before growing molten and liquefied, just like the molten rock spewing into the atmosphere. Had it not been for his AT Field, the Eva's metal hide would have seared and sizzled along with the rest of the Earth and metal around it, the weapons now nothing more than simply part of the explosive lava.

As the eruption settled, however, all Shinji had on his mind was one thought.

"Asuka! Where are you? Are you alright! Asuka!"

She had been so close to that wave of molten rock and fire. Was she ensnared in it? Did she fall victim to her own attack? She had been so eager to show off, so eager to prove herself the best. Had she gone the ultimate step and died, simply to preserve her own title as an elite pilot? In Shinji's eyes, she was an elite. She was one of the best, and she didn't need to prove it so veraciously as she did. She could relax a little bit, hold herself back. After all, she was one of his closest companions right now, and he could not, would not, risk saying good-bye to another person he didn't want to part ways with.

Not like his father.

As the volcanic ash settled, a single figure emerged from the darkness. It was a tall beast, covered in black ash but still visibly red, its four eyes glowing in the darkness. Shinji's lips curled into a triumphant grin as he darted for her, eyes wide with jubilation. "Asuka! You're alive! Thank God, I was so worried you were caught in that explosion! Asuka!"

"Can you shut up, idiot?"

#

As Asuka washed away the volcanic ash that remained stuck in her hair, behind her ears, under her skin, she sighed, staring up at the ceiling. Sure, she had won. Sure, she managed to prove her heroic nature to the world as a whole, but there was one blaring flaw with her victory that screamed at her, one that made everything so God damn frustration. She wanted to punch something hard, something really hard, yet lacked the strength to clench her fingers together into a powerful, mighty fist, all thanks to those idiots!

Why did he save her first?

Why did Shinji just let that monster land on top of her like that? Didn't he realize she was in danger? Why didn't she help him? Sure, he had helped her before during that dancing fight, but that was then and this was now? Was it that Rei had successfully finished her last mission? Was it that Rei was a flawless woman? No, that couldn't be it. Who'd ever love that damn doll? Who could love those soulless eyes? That vacant face? That stupid, ugly face of hers that she just wanted to punch again and again and again and again!

And then that stupid freak had the nerve to save her? Oh, as though she needed saving, that bitch! That freak had to protect her from the big-bad pig monster, and leave her behind to suffer, huh? That freaking shit-eating kiss-ass! She felt so eager to just shove the German girl's face in the ground, wasn't she? Oh, well, don't mind the German elite pilot here. No, everyone focus in on that weakling! That pathetic Rei!

"Jesus Christ…"

#

"So what the hell was that thing?" Misato asked Ritsuko, slowly. She stood at Ritsuko and Maya's side, staring at both of them as the bridge emptied. Commander Ikari had already departed with Fuyutsuki, discussing something urgently with him as Ondorf pursued, clearly unwelcome yet still pressing his nose into their business regardless. She found herself wishing Kaji were here to break the silence with a joke, but he was still at Oxford for whatever reason. Probably looking into Star's past, or something.

"Well, the hell should I know," Ritsuko sighed, "It wasn't an Angel, yet sure as hell wasn't any recorded animal we've ever seen. It's wavelength looks like its somewhere between a human and am Angel."

"Well then, what's it gonna be called? A half-angel?"

"Maybe it's a demon?" Maya suggested from below.

"I remember reading that half-angel and half-humans in the Bible were called Nephilim, but that sure doesn't roll of the tongue too well," Misato said.

"Where'd you hear that?" Ritsuko asked.

"College."

"You took a theology class?"

"Yeah. Best class to have a hangover in because everyone was asleep," Misato giggled, "Well, I'll leave the naming process to you guys."

"Oh, I have more pressing matters. You see, Rei's weekly check-up is coming up at the end of this week, so I have to set up the equipment for that, and the Evas sustained some exterior damage. At least Star's out of the hospital, now, so that's good-"

Suddenly, the fax machine burst to life. Misato turned toward the machine, a look of horror in her eyes, as a piece of paper emerged, slowly. She recognized the emblem on the top of the page. It was an emblem she had seen quite frequently lately through all her paper work, or at least all her excess paper work. She felt like breaking down into tears as she read the all-too-familiar name plastered on top of the official document.

"MARDUK REPORT"


	5. Chapter 5

**Part 5**

"It appears you were right after all, then," Kaji chuckled, "Not a single file on Asuka. What a pity."

"We told you that was the case, sir," the secretary said, glancing back at the storeroom, "You had to go through every shelf to figure that out, though?"

"Of course. I like being thorough, after all," Kaji said.

After all that searching, Kaji had found nothing. Not even a faint trace of Star Aran, or anyone sharing similar features, or even another teenager attending the school that fit his description. Granted, he didn't find anyone who would've fit Star's description attending the school. He did actually find a single document pertaining to Asuka, but it was more stating that her documents had been moved to Princeton, a completely worthless placeholder. Still, holding his breath as the seconds passed before exhaling, Kaji acknowledged that, once again, there was no point really in being surprised. After all, what was he to expect when-?

"Uh, excuse me one second," Kaji said as he felt his phone vibrating in his breast pocket. The secretary frowned, disappointed, as Kaji flipped open his phone, placing it to his ear. "This is Kaji."

"We need you to make a stop on the way back in Italy," Gendo's monotone voice said in his ear.

"Wait, Italy! What for?" Kaji stammered, hushing his voice as he moved away from the secretary. While he doubted she'd piece anything together from their conversation, it was better to be safe than sorry when dealing with the head of Nerv himself. After all, he might let lose some top secret information or something to that effect, or, worse yet, say something a little too much for her ears to hear.

"The Fifth Child has been chosen."

"Another one? Didn't we just receive a Fourth Child? Why do we need another one?"

"It is more convenient in the sense of combat purposes, but it is unnecessary overall. Except, of course, we have a new threat to worry about that was not part of the scenario."

"A new-what're you talking-?"

"I'll send everything to you on the plane ride to Rome. Just make sure you get there soon. We may require this new element sooner than you'd expect. Do not fail me, Ryouji Kaji."

"But, sir-ah, dammit!" Kaji mumbled as the line died. No, it didn't die, Gendo just hung up on him, without so much as a "good luck" or "take care." If it wasn't for his salary, benefits, and the occasional thrill ride or two, working for such a thankless boss would be quite a tedious ordeal to say the very least. Ah well, at least now he'd have some conversation on the plane ride back home. Still, he couldn't help but wonder whether this child was just another toy of Seele, as he suspected Star Aran was.

#

The ginger haired girl sat alone on a bench on the roof of the apartment complex, her head slumped over as she ran a hand through her locks of tangled hair. Having just bathed, her locks still retained some measure of water, but she had yet to dry herself with anything but the sun. Seeing how warm it was, maybe it was a good idea to just let her body heat up under the rays of light from that star so far away.

Star.

Even if he hadn't shown his stupid, ugly face today, just the sound of his name was enough to make the girl punch something, even if it only was the bench, with her small, yet powerful, fist. She clenched her teeth in frustration. Everyone loved that idiot, that stupid bastard. Everyone just wanted to bow down and kiss the ground he walked on, didn't they? They just loved kissing up to him, being there when he was doing something awesome and wonderful, huh? Reversing the age of an Angel? Well, that was so cool, but when Asuka defeated a massive demon-angel-monster-thingy, did anyone pat her on the back? They had to be just congratulating her from the sidelines.

After all, she was amazing.

Wasn't she?

She frowned as she ran a hand up her face, silently slouched over. She remembered leaving her entry plug, soaked with LCL and sweat. Sure, Shinji seemed happy she was alive, but that idiot chose to save Rei instead of her. That doll deserved his attention, but when that pig was on top of her, dominating her, holding her against the ground, his slimy breath filling her nostrils, Shinji chose to do nothing! He just stood there, blankly, like some sort of stupid idiot on drugs! What? Was she not good enough for him? Did she not have the prettiest hair, or the sweetest face, or the best personality?

Personality.

She stared up at the azure sky with her blue eyes, frowning slightly before glancing aside once more, her lips pulled tightly across her teeth. Maybe that was why she only had one person she could truly call a friend, wasn't it? After all, she had Hikari, but then what? Who else really cared about her? She thought Shinji did, but he proved that wasn't the case when he didn't bother saving her at all. Didn't she matter in his eyes? Well, in her eyes, he was nothing! He was trash, and always would be trash!

The lie failed to fool Asuka.

She knew he meant more than that.

Oh, so much more than just nothing.

She lowered her head, her hair falling over her face. She wouldn't cry. She was too big to do something like that, too mature, too old. She wasn't some stupid ten year old brat who would burst into tears after scraping her knee, or a little baby crying for attention. She wouldn't let those red hot furious tears roll down her cheeks! Not while she was in charge! Oh no, she was going to be strong, strong enough for all to see that she was someone you didn't mess around with. She was one of the best, she was one of the greatest, and she was now crying twin streams of tears down her cheeks.

A moist sob escaped from her lips as she crouched over, holding her face in her hands, ashamed to show her sobbing eyes to the world. She felt as though she had been sitting out in the rain for hours on end, allowing the droplets to seep into her skin, drowning her in her own flesh. She was simply spitting out the ice cold water flooding her lungs, ice cold water from the sea of sorrow and sadness. She struggled to hold back the torrent, managing only to build a dam to keep the formerly unrestrained tears from pouring out.

The dam broke shortly after.

#

Rei stared out of her window, glancing out into the sky above. How odd was it that the clouds seemed to drift so simply across the surface of space and the atmosphere, almost as though they were cloudy patches on the surface of a water cup, or film on vinegar. She rested on her chair, feeling as though her body was sinking into its soft depths. And yet, despite the comforting situation, her mind was racing, at constant flux, constant momentum, as thoughts surged through her mind, thoughts of the hours preceeding this very moment, as though she were still standing in the halls of Nerv HQ, having just abandoned her Entry Plug behind her.

Pilot Sohryu had been standing on her bridge, glaring at Shinji with a look of pure, unrelenting fury. It looked as though nothing would please her more than to punch the boy until he bled. The frustration in her eyes, something dark and cruel, as she always emanated. Such cruelty, especially towards Shinji. Perhaps Star had a point. Perhaps she needed-deserved-to suffer a little bit. She had such darkness in her heart, such unreasonable rage toward Shinji, poor child. Whatever sin he committed against the German girl was lost upon the First Child.

She approached Pilot Sohryu, only for her to turn toward her, a scouring look in her eyes, her lips pulled tightly in disgust. "Oh! What now, Wonder Girl? You gonna brag or something?"

"Brag?" What was there to brag about? They had won, and it was Shinji and the Second who had managed to overcome the challenge, perhaps even more the Second than the Third, so why would she brag? What sort of success did she have to brag about? Oh, that's right: Rei had saved her life. Without her, the Second Child might not be a part of this Earth. That was what Star and her realized would hurt her pride the most.

Evidentially, it worked.

"Look, you stupid-just because he chose you over me-"

"Who?" Was she referring to Star? In all honesty, Star's choice to focus on Rei was neither comforting or pleasant. If the Second Child wanted him, she was more than welcome to take him. The last thing the blue haired girl wanted was to have that boy there so frequently, so constantly staring down at her. It left her rather unsettled, almost afraid, for her own safety. There was something about his eyes, his beautiful looking eyes, that made Rei a little af-

The sound of skin slamming against flesh filled the air, echoing into the air as the German's hands drew across the blue haired girl's cheep. The sharp sting spread across her skin for a second, prickling every nerve as though they were being twisted around upon themselves. Her scarlet eyes widened in shock, staring down through the interlocking metal of the bridge below her feet. She glanced up at the Second's wide, furious blue eyes. "You know damn well what I mean! God damn it, you little bitch, you really think you can just play stupid again? Just because that idiot saved you instead of me doesn't mean you're better than everyone else! It doesn't mean a damn thing, you stupid, little-"

A hand clamped around Pilot Sohryu's wrist from behind. Rei glanced up at her savior to see a figure she had never seen before. He was an aged man wearing long black robes, a long metal cross dangling from his neck, drifting around his solar plexus. He held her hand firm and still as he said, in a deep, melodic voice, "Now girl, this is not the place for violence. Your holy war has concluded, and there is no need to bring your fight to your own comrades."

"Holy war? What the hell are you on?" the Second Child snapped, tearing out of his hands before a second set of five, aged, long digits wrapped around her upper arm. She turned around, hair dancing in the air fiercely, her eyes harsh and extreme. "Get off of me!"

"Not if you're simply going off to cause more chaos and arguments," the man said, placing a second hand on her shoulder, clearly ignoring the LCL sticking to her plug suit, "Now, go home and bathe. Your anger should be reserved for the battle field, not your own comrade."

"I suppose so," Pilot Sohryu replied, grudgingly, before glancing back at Rei, glaring at her from the corners of her eyes. If Rei wasn't very much mistaken, the Second Child's eyes were moist, as though she were about to cry. Any second now, her quivering lips would give into their inner desire, and she would break down in tears. That's what it looked like to Rei. There was something about it, something so simple and profound, that changed her entire mood. It was then that Rei felt a twinge of that familiar wet, disgusting feeling welling up inside her body. What was this emotion? Was this what they referred to as regret?

"Now, go home, child," the man replied, dragging his fingers alongside the little of her back before his nails coursed through her wet, tangled locks of hair, "And may the light of God shine down upon your blessed path."

"Thanks, I guess," Asuka mumbled, walking away, rubbing her face with the back of her hand as Shinji stared, awe struck, at the sight before him, confused. Clearly, the Third had no idea what had just transpired here, nor did he understand any sort of connection between Rei, the Second, or this new figure who emerged. However, as Asuka and Shinji left, Rei heard footsteps leading away. She turned to see the enigmatic man departing, as though he had other business to attend to.

And so Rei collected her thoughts on her chair, staring out into space though, only to loop the memories around over again, perhaps hoping beyond hope that the second run-through would somehow be different.

#

"Feeling better, Star?" Ondorf queried, looking down at his ward as he sat up in his bed, stretching his arms lazily.

"Yeah, best as I ever will, I guess," he replied, rising to his feet from his bed, cracking his neck lazily before glancing over at the aged man, "So why'd ya take so long? Thought you'd be here immediately after I left."

"I was preoccupied with work with Chairman Keel," Ondorf replied, glancing down at the Fourth Child, "It was a matter of urgency, and, alas, I had to remain in Germany longer than expected."

"How urgent was it?"

"It involved retrieving these," Ondorf replied, reaching into his robes to withdraw a packet of pills. Star's eyes widened in shock as he savagely grabbed them, popping a single one out of its package before swallowing it whole. He sighed, trembling almost pleasurably, as he smiled to himself. "I have discussed the matter of your medication with Commander Ikari. You will be medicated every day. He thinks of them as nutritional supplements used to boost your AT Field, so make sure, when explaining your pills, to not make up something different for the sake of being creative."

"Fair enough."

"Listen, Star, you were irresponsible with age regressing that Angel, and today's experiences are more than enough evidence of that," Ondorf replied through his aged, cracked lips, "You are simply unable to go about doing such explosively impossible deeds without attracting unwanted attention. You are to blend in, or else you'll look too great to be human. If you fail to obey me, your mission will fail, and you know what will come of you then."

"I know," chuckled Star, grinning slightly, "You dispose of me. I understand how important this whole thing is, so you don't need to worry about me screwing up."

"Good. I didn't expect anything short of Seele's trump card," Ondorf replied, examining the LCL from that girl's plug suit still stuck to his fingers. The plug suit was tight enough to function almost as a second skin, a sort of warmth emerging from beneath the surface of the fabric, as though he had made contact directly with her bare, smooth skin. She had a firmness to her, but there was still a soft push to her skin, a give, much like feminine flesh or the beautiful curves of a woman many years her senior. "Now tell me, have you befriended the other children?"

"Oh, I have made a solid attempt," chuckled Star, "That one boy, Shinji, seems awfully friendly, and that blue haired girl Rei-she is quite an angel, wouldn't you say?"

"Perhaps, but the German girl seems like quite an attractive girl," chuckled Ondorf, smirking as he wiped the LCL from his fingers with a handkerchief.

"She's a bitch. I hope she dies soon so I won't need to worry about her hurting Rei any longer," Star chuckled, "Rei and I have a thing together, you know? That girl Asuka, though, she's just such a cruel woman. She hurts Shinji too. I think everyone would be better off if she died, wouldn't you say?"

"Such savage thoughts are against the will of God," frowned Ondorf, "I'm sure it would be a wiser bet to ignore her. She seemed more frustrated than cruel, though, from my perspective." Asuka. Surely that was Asuka Langley Sohryu, the daughter of Kyoko, the doctor who helped Germany's E-Project profusely, even if it was, sadly, at the cost of her sanity and soul. He frowned, slightly, as he considered the rotten lot that girl had in life.

Perhaps Ondorf could share joy with her.

Perhaps.

#

It was amazing how quiet dinner could be sometimes.

They did win, so why didn't anyone talk? Why were they both so quiet? What exactly happened when Misato was reading through the Marduk report, anyway? What sort of event occurred to change the dynamics from one of triumph to stiff, lost jubilation? She sighed, running a hand through her purple hair as she drained her can of beer in one gulp. Through one eye, she saw Shinji placing teriyaki chicken in her mouth, and the other, Asuka ate nothing at all.

No one had spoken since they arrived home.

Silently, Misato rose from her seat, approaching the refrigerator to withdraw another can of beer, when the phone rang. Curiously, she approached the phone, placed it to her ear, and said, forcing a fun-loving tone, "'Ello? Misato speaking."

"Ah, sounds like the voice of an angel to me," the familiar, chuckling voice of Ryouji Kaji said, filling Misato's ears with a pleasurably sickening twinge of disgust. That jerk just had to call her now, huh? Despite the desire she felt to see his face once more, an urge subliminated by Misato twirling a lock of her hair around her finger, the Captain's face twisted in disgust as she huffed silently to herself. "Something the matter? It almost sounds like you aren't jumping for joy to hear my voice."

"That's because I'm not. Where were you all day, anyway? We had an incident."

"Yeah, I read in one of Commander Ikari's reports. A giant pig-monster? Not good. Not good at all. Ah well, whatever. Listen, I'm going to keep this brief because I'm just boarding a plane, and-"

"A plane? You going away again?" Misato felt a sensation of shock fill her chest. Leaving her yet again? How dare he! He just got here. That bastard could leave her alone again, or else she'd punch him so hard into next week he'd never see the end of it. God damn bastard just thought he can come one day, hang around a little, then run off to catch the next flight to Timbuktu? Not today, she'd tell him that much!

"No, not at all. I'm actually coming back to Japan. I was in Oxford all day doing research on, well, our previous addition to the crew, and now I'm bringing new cargo with me."

"New cargo? You mean-?"

"Yup, the Fifth Child is sitting next to me right now. I'm not going to lie; I'm curious how the rest of them are going to react to this one. Last person I'd expect to-sorry! I didn't it like that! I'm sorry!-this one is a bit sensitive, I'm afraid. Anyway, I just wanted to call you to tell you where I was and that I didn't leave."

"Oh, that's all?"

"Yes, that and that I'll probably be back in fifteen hours or so, so maybe if you could meet me there with a ride, perhaps have Asuka and Shinji meet the Fifth Child? I think it might be a good experience for them all to bond a little. I don't think Asuka cares all too much for Star. You did hear what he called her, right?"

Misato glanced at the German girl, a curious expression in her own eyes. She sat still, unmoving as she stared down at her own food, unwilling to eat or bite into it, almost like a sort of zombie. Misato glanced back at the phone, turning around as she went into her room, closing the door behind her, to muffle her voice somewhat. Placing a hand by her mouth to isolate her voice further, she asked, "No, what did he call her?"

"He called her a Nazi."

"The jerk. That's explain a lot, now that I think about it. She's been really off lately, and I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. Oh my God, has he done anything else?"

"I don't know anything for sure, but I get the vibe he's been making jabs at her whenever he gets the chance. He has the face of an angel, but the heart of a demon, one could say."

"I'd say. Oh Jesus, as though the girl hasn't already-well, whatever, do you think I should do something about this?"

"Well, maybe just show her that she's loved. Act like a mother."

"A mother? I try doing that anyway, but I'm not a mom. Maybe more of a big sister type, but a mom? Nuh-uh. Not good at that. I'm a terrible role model, anyway. Maybe Rits-"

"No, you live with her all the time, and Ritsuko, well, as much as she's a friend to us, I don't think Asuka cares for her too much. Still, just treat her nicely, alright?"

"Alright, I'll do my best."

"That's all we can ask. Got to go. Plane's taking off. Oh, and one more thing to bother you with: drinks when I get back?"

Misato hung the phone up on Kaji, leaving him without an answer.

#

"I don't see why we need to wake up THIS early for a stupid pick-up," Asuka mumbled, "If it wasn't for Kaji being here, I'd still be asleep, ya know."

Shinji glanced out of the window, blocking most of what the redhead said out. It wasn't intentional. Usually he listened to her complaining with a relative interest, depending on the subject matter of her ranting, but right now, all he felt was confusion. Another new child so soon after the Fourth arrived? It seemed a little rushed to him, as though there was too much coming in at once for comfort. A fifth pilot seemed like a little much. What would her Eva be like? Would it resemble Star's Eva, or would it be more in line with the other machines. A Unit-04. How unusual. To think that, originally, there had been only Unit-01, which he felt was a unique creature in and of itself. How astounding that there were so many.

Did it take away the uniqueness of his position?

"Shinji, what do you think of Rei."

"Huh?" This caught Shinji's ear. He glanced over at Asuka, her head lowered as her locks of hair cascaded over her face, blocking out her eyes somewhat as shadow fell over her face. "Whaddya mean?"

"You know, what do you think of her? Do you ever want to kiss her or something?"

"Where'd you come up with that? It's random."

"Afraid to answer the question, huh?"

"No, that's not it at all. It's just that, well, I don't exactly know how to answer that one. I mean, I like her. She's a good friend and all, but kissing? I think that's a little much."

"So what? Do you think she's pretty or something?"

"I dunno. She sort of reminds me of a mother to be honest. Asuka, why're you asking-"

"D-do you-do you ever want to kiss-"

"We're here!" Misato cheerfully declared, stopping the car abruptly in its spot, the tires screeching to a halt, drowning out the girl's voice. Though Shinji glanced over at her questioningly, confused, Asuka's eyes widened as her cheeks filled with red. He wasn't sure whether this was out of embarressment or rage. All he did know, however, was that the redhead had now darted out of the car, and was walking toward the airport before them with haste.

For all intents and purposes, the building was surprisingly empty. Shinji wondered whether or not the arrival of the Fifth Child had anything to do with this or not. Whatever the case might have been, Shinji followed Misato and Asuka as they progressed further down the chambers and hallways, people gesturing to them as they passed by to go in a certain directions, thus confirming they were all being paid by Nerv to do one task: secure the arrival of the Fifth Child.

"If they have all these people on pay roll, why don't' they just bring the Fifth Child home or something?" Asuka grumbled.

"Don't you want to meet the person before complaining?" Misato asked.

"The last arrival was an asshole. Why should I really expect the idiots choosing these people to be much better. They really went downhill after they chose me. First an idiot, then an asshole, and now probably a bigger ass than the previous two combined!"

"Exactly how am I an asshole or an idiot?" Shinji asked.

"You-"

"Oh look, Kaji's coming."

Asuka spun around at Misato's words, as did Shinji. Indeed, there was Kaji, standing over with a smile on his unshaven face, grinning as he approached alone. Wasn't he supposed to bring someone else with him? "Sorry it took so long. There were a few delays after we stopped for a little bit in Nepal. Nothing too big to worry about-"

"Where's the Fifth Child?" Shinji asked, confused.

"Oh, I'm sorry. Bianca's just having a little trouble with her bags over in security. She told me to go ahead and not let her keep me up from having fun, so here I am."

"Bianca? That's a girl's name, right?" Asuka asked, "Well, at least this new addition won't be an immature little boy now, will he?"

"Nope, you're wrong in all three categories there," Kaji chuckled.

"So you went over to pick her up? That's pretty friendly of you," Shinji replied.

"No, I was over in Europe for a daytrip, and your father told me to go off and pick up the Fifth Child while I was there. She's Italian, you know, but, like Asuka, she speaks really good Japanese and English. Ah, here she comes now."

The sound of wheels running against the tiled floor filled the air. Shinji glanced over Kaji's shoulder to see, quite literally, the last person he'd ever expect to pilot an Evangelion. This wasn't an insult, no, but if someone were to point her out in a crowd and tell Shinji she was going to pilot a gigantic robot, he'd have some doubts. It wasn't an insult, and he felt bad thinking it, but she looked like she was in no physical condition to do anything too strenuous like that.

The main reason for this was because she had to be at least fifty pounds overweight.

The brunette girl darted forward, struggling to drag her bags across the ground, her round face red. Her long braid bobbed behind her as she approached, her soft, pudgy hands clinging to the long handlebar to her luggage. Shinji had never seen a woman so plump in real life before, but, then again, Japan seldom had overweight people, especially after Second Impact. The entire way she carried herself seemed so different, as she had to shuffle her weight from one foot to another with each step, how her stomach trembled with movements as Asuka's breasts often did, and-

He felt filthy for having made that comparison.

"Hi," the girl, named Bianca, exhaled, panting slightly, "Hey, you wouldn't happen to have a car or anything like that where I can lug this thing to, do ya?"

"Uh, yeah, we do," Shinji replied, still taken aback by the appearance of this girl. Judging by Asuka's raised, incredulous eyebrows, she was just taken aback that a girl this physically out of shape was supposed to be the Fifth Child. After all, how was she supposed to be a pilot in that physical condition? It just didn't make any sense to him, unless she was very good at synchronizing or something to that effect.

"Would you like me to get that for you?" Misato asked, smiling as though she had anticipated all of this to happen. She probably saw a picture of the girl too, or at least statistics about her weight. Couldn't she have at least given the children some idea of what they were walking into? She hadn't even informed them that the Fifth Child was female, let alone physically an alien to the country of Japan. Misato took the bag from Bianca, taking it, and, to Shinji's surprise, actually struggled under the extreme weight of the luggage in it. Maybe Bianca wasn't quite as out of shape as she appeared, as she seemed to have an easier time moving that thing than even Misato, a military captain, did.

"So, uh, you're the-er-Fifth Child?" Asuka asked.

"Uh, yup, but you can just call me Bianca. My full name is Bianca Victoria Desdemona, but Bianca rolls off the tongue a bit better."

"Your accent's pretty good for a foreigner," Shinji said, struggling to think of some common ground for conversation.

"Oh, really? Thanks! It took me so long to get the language right. I'm not even sure I'm saying it right," Bianca blushed, pushing her thick-framed glasses higher up her long, yet cute looking, nose.

"Well, it's not as good as my accent control, but it's still pretty descent," Asuka replied, "So, how long have you been in the program?"

"A few months. Italy actually earned the right to develop a Unit several years ago, but, unfortunately, due to budget restraints, the project took a really long time. Even longer to find a suitable pilot, but, in the end, apparently I was the most qualified for the job. Don't ask me how, though. I mean, do I really look like fighting material? Seriously?" As though to emphasize this, she placed a hand thoughtfully on her stomach, as though to bring further emphasis to just how distinctly different she was to the other children. "Well, enough of that, I don't suppose you know of anywhere to eat? Airline food is terrible, I'll have you know."

"Well, I cook," Shinji replied.

"You do, huh?" Bianca queried, eyes narrowing as her lips curled into a mischievous little grin, "You wouldn't suppose you could, well, you know, maybe make something for me? Nothing big, mind you, just something itty-bitty. Please?"

"Actually, forget the itty-bitty part! I'm starving," Asuka snapped.

"Oh, uh, when we get back to the apartment, then?" Shinji compromised.

"Okay, that'll work," Bianca chuckled, smiling in spite of herself as her cheeks filled with blush, "I'm sorry if I seem a little awkward. Just got out of the plan, didn't get a lot of sleep, feel a little out of it, ya know? I'm sure I'm gonna be a little homesick around here, though."

"Hey, we should probably get into the car," Misato said, smiling, "I've arranged it so you'd live with us, okay Bianca?"

"She's living with us?" Asuka stammered, "Wait, when did this happen?"

"Well, where'd ya think she'd live?" Misato asked, "Star is staying with Mr. Ondorf now that he's here, so we couldn't just have her board with Star, and Rei tends to live alone, ya know? So I figured that she'd be a nice addition. Besides, I hear she had a part-time job as a housemaid, is that right?"

Bianca blushed as she pushed her glasses higher up her nose again with her thick index finger. "No, it wasn't like that. I was just a cleaning lady is all. But it was on the weekends, and it was mostly volunteer work. Look, I feel bad that I'm taking advantage. I'm sure you have a large space, with the four of you living there-"

"Four?" Shinji asked, "It's just Misato, Asuka, and me. Who's the forth person?"

"Well, what about Ryouji?"

"Who?" Shinji asked.

"That's Kaji's first name, dummkopf!" Asuka snapped.

"Oh, it is? Why doesn't anyone ever call him that?"

Asuka was about to shout at Shinji before pausing, glancing up at the sky thoughtfully as she placed a finger to her chin. "Ya know, in all honesty, that's a very good question…"

"Oh, I don't feel as bad, but really, I'll clean to earn my keep. I'm sure you all do your own equal part around the house, right?" The awkward pause that filled the air following Bianca's confident query left Bianca's cheeks with more scarlet than splattered ketchup in a slaughter house.

#

This new girl was awfully strange. Asuka had never seen someone quite like her. Upon arriving at the apartment, she glanced around, noticing only three bedrooms. At this, her face filled with scarlet as she glanced at the others, a nervous smile on her lips. "I take it I'll be sleeping on the couch, then?"

"Huh? No, we wouldn't do that to you," Misato replied, "You're gonna share one of the other rooms."

"Oh, uh, okay then. I take it I'll be sharing Ginger's room?" Bianca asked, curiously.

"Ginger!" Asuka stammered.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I can't remember your names. I'm really, really bad with them. I think I have it…was it Ass-oo-kah?"

"Asuka! Just say it with me now: As-uh-kahh! Got it? Good, now repeat." To say the least, the girl was awfully foolish for being unable to pronounce such a simple, beautiful sounding name. Bianca dragged her bags into Asuka's chamber, noticing all the stuff loaded in there. She plopped her bags, and, noticing a cabinet, opened it up. The redhead darted behind her, red-faced, as she stammered, "Hey! That's my stuff!"

"Oh my God! You have a Sega Genesis!" cooed Bianca, stroking its side with a pudgy finger, "Jesus! A Super Nintendo? An N64! Oh my God!"

"That belonged to-" No, don't say it. Don't say those words. She suppressed images in her mind's eye, images of dolls rocking back and forth from the ceiling, a rope around each of their individual necks. She heard the cry of babies in her brain's ears, the sobbing of a young girl in a cemetery before a tombstone. Before words carved themselves into the ornate granite, however, Asuka spoke, "I inherited that."

"Oh, from your parents?" Bianca glanced over her shoulder, her thick neck folding around her soft jawling. Asuka was silent, unable to answer. The image of the tombstone returned, but she had to suppress it, forcibly suppress it, before nodding slightly. Bianca's lips curled downward into a frown, her eyes glancing off to the side. She hesitated for a moment before pulling out the N64 in her soft hands, smiling softly. "Do you have Super Smash Brothers on here?"

"Uh, yeah, I do actually."

"I don't mean to brag, but I'm pretty good with Pikachu."

"Pikachu? He sucks! Everyone knows Link could kick that rat's ass!"

"Oh, c'mon! Ya know how cool it is to see someone playing with Link, and then they get owned by Pikachu? Boom! Totally blown out of the water! Flies into the air, crowd cheers, and then I get to do the same thing again and again until you don't respawn no more. Awesome stuff," Bianca laughed, her cheeks dimpling as she smiled, cracking her dimpled knuckles before sighing, "Shame they didn't make a sequel, huh?"

"Yeah, I always wanted to see Zelda in Super Smash Brothers. Or even Sonic, ya know?"

"Yeah, but that would never happen. You'd have as big of a chance as that happening as Sephiroth popping up in a Disney movie, ya know?"

"Yeah, pretty stupid, I know," Asuka laughed, "So do you play a lot of video games?"

"Oh yeah. I'm a huge geek, I'm embarrassed to say. If I could just sit on my ass all day playing games, I'd be set. Well, obviously that's what I do most of the time anyway, in case you couldn't tell," Bianca added, rubbing a hand over her rather large derriere.

"Hey, look, you're not THAT fat, okay?" laughed Asuka, smiling slightly.

"Hey, look, I'm nice, not stupid. I know what I am, and that's cool. I'm okay with it and all that, so don't fool yourself. I'm over 180, so I'm not exactly a lightweight here. I probably weigh twice what you do."

"Not quite. I'm actually about 94 pounds or so, so you're almost twice my weight," Asuka laughed.

"I said over, so, uh, maybe I am twice your-You are not 94 pounds," laughed Bianca, smiling slightly, "Your boobs are too big. C'mon, tell me how much. Let's be serious now."

"No, really, I'm 94 pounds," Asuka replied, eyes narrowed, "I'm not joking."

"Yeah, but those boobs are way too big-"

"Listen, no they aren't," Asuka replied, cheeks filling with blush, "Can you keep a secret, seeing as how we're living together and all?"

"Yeah?" Bianca asked, leaning in closer.

"Now, you've got to swear that idiot or horrible excuse for a role model doesn't hear or else I'll never hear the end of it, okay?"

"Alright, listen: I'm wearing a padded bra."

"Oh, so what's the secret?"

"That IS the secret!"

"Oh, okay. That's not too juicy of a secret. I thought you were going to say they were implants or something."

"Hey! Look, I'll stop wearing one once I grow into my body, okay? And fill out a little."

"Listen, I may not be the best person to say this, but if you're wearing a padded bra and you're fourteen years old, probably closer to fifteen, you aren't gonna get much bigger-"

"I'm thirteen, actually. My birthday's in December."

"Oh, cool, I'll mark it on my calendar. Anyway, look, I read a little bit on the other pilots before coming here. You're part Japanese, right?"

"Yeah, but so what?"

"Maybe you inherited the genes for their breast sizes."

"What's that supposed to mean!"

"Ya know how Japanese women have small breasts? Well, Germans and Italians don't. Ya had to get that from your Eastern blood. Look, big breasts aren't all they're cracked up to be, really. Causes a lot of back pain."

"I just need to grow into my body! I'm not done maturing yet!"

"Look, if you do any growing, it's out, but not in the places you want, believe me," laughed Bianca, much to Asuka's frustration. Still, no matter how frustrated she was, there was something interesting about Bianca that made Asuka realize something very pronounced, one that actually made her lips curl into a small little grin.

Since Bianca arrived, she didn't want to beat Shinji over the head.


	6. Chapter 6

**Part 6**

"So the children are getting along nicely, I take it?"

Misato shook her glass a little, smiling slightly as she drew back her glass, pouring amber liquid down her throat. The fizzling comfort seared against the sides of her esophagus before seeping into every pore of her body. She felt her limbs grow looser, control of her words and lips slip away. She could say whatever she wanted to Ryouji Kaji without feeling that resilient restriction known as embarrassment. "Oh yeah, completely. I mean, obviously Shinji would get along, but even Asuka seems to be friendly with her."

"Friendly or friends?" Kaji asked, smirking as he ran his finger around the rim of his glass, having taken small sips in contrast to Misato's gulps.

"Well, I'm not sure yet. I mean, how many friends do they really have? Shinji has a few, but to my knowledge, I don't think Asuka has made a lot of friends either. Just Hikari, and she's not all too popular herself. Don't get me wrong: she's a nice girl, but neither seems of them go off to parties or get wasted, or anything like that."

"You of course are comparing them to yourself, hmmm? If I recall, you weren't a partier either," Kaji chuckled, "At least not at their age, anyway."

"Eh, point taken. Still, I think Bianca is starting to grow close to Asuka of all people. I mean, just today, Shinji was cooking breakfast, and Asuka started complaining like she always does about one thing or another. I think this time her eggs were too cold or runny or whatever. Anyway, Shinji is about to apologize, and Asuka's about to yell some more, when Bianca just offers to eat Asuka's egg for her and that SHE'D make her a new one. I mean, Asuka just turned a 180 on the spot and started telling Bianca that wasn't necessary and all that, as though she didn't want her to do more work than necessary."

"Well, that sounds a little like Asuka, but she tends to be a little, oh, how to put it…?"

"Selfish?"

"That's a little extreme, but I suppose that's not too far off from the word I was looking for."

"Oh, well, she still made Shinji make her a new egg after giving it to Bianca, so that explains that."

"Oh, never mind then." Kaji made a little chuckle at this point, which left a small grin on Misato's lips. She kinda liked his chuckle. All the scruffly hairs on his chin twitched with that jovial laugh, as though they were being pulled along on the ride of his chuckle, every hair guffawing on their own. She thought it was kinda cute. She'd say it was cute, but she hadn't had nearly enough drinks to make that confession.

Especially to herself.

"So what's up with Shinji and Bianca?"

"Well, I'm not sure what their relationship is, but I'm sure they're both on good terms," Misato laughed.

"So that just leaves what you think of her," Kaji replied, grinning.

Misato sighed. "Truthfully? I'm grateful she's not Star and all, but it's just that she's kinda-well, I don't think it's her fault at all and I feel really bad for saying this-she stands out because of her weight."

"I can imagine. Most people in Japan aren't heavy, or, at this point, in the entire world. She's a rarity, you know."

"How could someone grow to that size in a place like Italy of all places? I thought their economy was devastated after Second Impact."

"It was. You did read some of the paperwork on Bianca, didn't you?"

"Skimmed through it, yeah. Why?"

"Well, did you read up on her parents?"

"No, why?"

"They were rather wealthy people. Both deceased, sadly, but they left her more than a little money for her to do what she pleased. Thankfully, she was responsible not to spend it all at once. She put a lot in the stock market under pseudonyms, more in the banks, but what she kept for herself she spent on food, comics, and video games. The combination of those three leads to one simple end: obesity."

"Not necessarily," Misato replied, frowning.

"Well, in her case it did. Alas, unfortunately, she looks a little different, but she's still a reasonably cute, nice girl. Still, I'm worried for her in the sense that she might be hurt as a result of the Eva program."

"Yeah, I've started to notice most of our crew aren't exactly in a completely right state of mind, and all this stress starts to get to them after awhile. I'm afraid for Shinji, too. He's always so frail, you know?"

"He's not nearly as frail as everyone thinks," Kaji laughed, "He does pilot a giant, building sized death machine, after all. How frail can you be when you're kicking the asses of giant monsters?"

"Kaji, stop kidding around. You know that stuff's not as cool as it sounds, and Shinji learned that the hard way. Well, actually, he never thought the idea was cool at all. That's Asuka's position. I'm afraid she's going to be hurt by all this in some way, but, at the same time, I'm too scared to know what to do, Kaji. Can you give me some help, like ya always do?"

Kaji smiled. "I'll try."

#

"Trying is not good enough, Kaji."

Kaji stared forward, his pulse quickening as he stared into the bespectacled eyes of Gendo Ikari. The man, the legend, a monster before him in the body of a human, breathing anxiously as he turned to face the window, his gloved hands clasped behind his back. "Commander, with all due respect, I think that my find in Oxford is major. The fact that I didn't find anything on him proves he's lying, which is enough to boot him off the project for deceit."

"Kaji, we have enough documents to falsify the Fourth Child's records and qualifications. We had that from the beginning. What I want you to do, Kaji, is determine who he truly is." Gendo turned around at this, the light reflecting off his glasses so powerfully that his pupils were lost in the glare. "Kaji, I need you to go off again, this time to investigate the Seele members in America. Inform them that you were sent by me to examine the constructions of the two new Eva Units that country's working on. What I want you to do, however, is to check to see whether or not they have documentation on the Fourth Child. Such a task is well within your range of ability, wouldn't you say?"

"Oh, of course. I'm sure I'll be fine in that regard."

"Good. You are excused for now."

#

"Uh, excuse me for a second, but what's on the menu for today, Shinji?"

Shinji glanced over his shoulder from the frying pan, his eyes widening in shock. Every day there was the same question, and yet every time Bianca seemed to make him tremble slightly. She leaned over on the table, eyes drooping slightly as she held her face in her soft, pudgy hands. However, and Shinji knew she didn't realize this which made him feel all the filthier, her white t-shirt she wore to bed hung off her thick shoulders, revealing her cleavage. His eyes darted straight there, but no, he couldn't look. Back to her eyes. He struggled to avoid looking, but couldn't resist. He dared a glimpse, only to turn back to his meal, blushing deep red.

"Uh, just some rice, broccoli, breasts-er-"

"Huh? Can you repeat that last one?" Bianca asked, her cheeks filling with red as she drew herself up, pulling the neck of her shirt a little higher up her chest.

"Chicken breast. Some roasted chicken breast," Shinji stammered, hastily, his voice high and frantic.

"Oh, okay," Bianca shrugged, slumping down onto her soft derriere on the seat, "Man, what a morning so far. Had a crazy dream."

"What was it about?"

"Flying monkeys giving me donuts."

"Do you dream about food on top of all else?"

"Kinda, yeah. It's a sickness of mine, I know…"

Shinji sighed slightly before tossing Bianca an apple. She fumbled it in he fingers. The fruit hit the floor, and rolled away, right onto, to Shinji's surprise, Asuka's big toe. She took the fruit off the floor, glanced at it, rubbed it against her oversized yellow t-shirt, and took a big bite out of it. Bianca's eyes widened as she slumped over, sighing. "That was my apple, too. I wanted it."

"Eh, too bad," Asuka mumbled walking toward the table as she took a second chomp into the fruit.

"Look, Bianca, if you want another fruit, I could give one to you," Shinji replied, tossing a banana at Bianca off-handedly. She caught this one in her thick fingers, keeping a steady grasp of it before pealing it.

"So is this breakfast?" Asuka asked, frowning at the now devoured core of her once full and fresh apple.

"Afraid so. We're kinda running behind schedule. Lemme give you your lunches," Shinji said, finishing off the last touches before handing both girls a box filled with food. Asuka accepted hers, a frown on her lips, but Bianca seemed to resist the urge to just devour the food now. As Shinji filled his own lunch container, he asked, curiously, "Bianca, are you really that hungry?" Bianca nodded in response, lips drawn straight.

"But you ate so much last night you had stomach pain. You were whining about it last night," Asuka grumbled.

"Yeah, but the problem was that I kinda am hungry now. I guess all that food must've stretched out my stomach or something, ya know? Now there's just more room to fill, and I'm hungrier than before."

"That's mildly disgusting," Asuka replied, frowning.

"Eh, yeah, but it's anatomy."

"Anatomy is still gross."

"To each their own."

Soon enough, the three left the house, and headed off to school. Shinji glanced over at Asuka and Bianca, a small frown on his lips. "Hey, Asuka, you know our Synch Tests are today, right?"

"Yeah, so?"

"Isn't this Bianca's first time in her plug suit? At least with us around?" Shinji asked.

Bianca blushed, drawing back a little. Asuka, however, flushed red, leaning forward, her eyes wide and filled with indignation. "What? Do you want to see her in something skintight? Pervert! I knew all men were gross, but you're just the bottom of the barrel!"

Asuka wasn't too far off from the truth. It was only a healthy desire, and he had never seen a girl with such a large bust line before, so naturally he was going to feel a little awkward seeing her in skintight clothing. He wasn't being perverted. He was afraid of acting perverted. Still, he needed to come up with a reasonable sounding excuse. "No, that's not it at all! I was just going to ask if she felt comfortable wearing that sort of stuff is all."

Asuka regarded him with a cold eye for a moment or two before relenting, at which Bianca, putting some thought into the matter, said, "Well, I guess I sorta do. I mean, I'm not fine with it or anything, it's just that I do feel a little awkward. I mean, you two are in such good shape, and I'm, well, let's not kid ourselves again."

Feeling a sense of awkwardness in the conversation, Shinji struggled to say something to make the mood lighter. Finally, he sort of came up with something that might've worked. "You know, all that really means is you have a very healthy diet, and-"

"Oh, so you're calling her fat, huh!" snapped Asuka, "I just knew all men were disgusting perverted assholes!"

"No, that's not what I was trying to say at all!"

#

"So, Hikari, I want you to meet Bianca. She's going to be the Fifth Child, and she moved over here from Italy," Asuka explained, smiling slightly, gesturing toward the Italian as she pulled her uniform over her body again, the vest pulled tightly over her breasts and stomach. Hikari regarded her for a moment with a look of confusion before smiling, blushing slightly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," Hikari replied, bowing.

"Oh, you don't need to do that. Ya don't need to bow or anything like that," Bianca replied, blushing deep red.

"Sorry. Habit."

Until now, Bianca had never left the apartment. Paper work needed to be filled out, so the past few days, all the Italian girl did was lounge around the house, cleaning here and there to earn her keep. Asuka was not envious of that position. Shinji earned his keep by cooking, Bianca by cleaning, Misato by earning money, but Asuka? She earned her keep by providing an amazing sense of beauty and awe to the apartment as a collective whole. It was a job she was both good at and had many years practicing.

Regardless, she still felt a little bad for not doing enough. After all, here Bianca was cleaning up after all of them, acting sort of like a maid. Indeed, just Asuka's room alone looked neater the moment Bianca walked into it. It was almost like she was Mary Poppins on steroids, or perhaps on Krispy Kreme. The redhead did feel bad for making that comment against the Fifth Child, though, even if it was all inside her mind.

"So you're the class rep?" Bianca asked.

"Oh yeah," Hikari replied.

"Ya know, I ran for School Council Treasurer at my old school, but, well, I ended up losing, but hey, no reason to dwell on your losses except to learn from them."

"What did you learn?" Hikari asked.

"Not to run for Treasurer."

Soon enough, the three girls were talking amongst themselves, but not before Asuka's favorite people in the whole world entered at the same, exact time. Rei Ayanami stood at Star Aran's side, though Wonder Girl did stand a couple arm's lengths away. Star didn't seem to notice as everyone unanimously swooned at his arrival. All, that is, except for the majority of the male population, who did whatever it was men did when they encountered their non-gay man-crush, and Asuka, who scowled in disapproval. To the redhead's mild disappointment, even her two friends betrayed a hint of attraction, more so Bianca because, after all, she was oblivious to the true evil that was Star Aran.

"Who're they?" Bianca asked.

"Wonder Girl over there's the First Child, Rei Ayanami. That asshole over there's Star Aran, the Fourth Child."

"Aran? Like Samus Aran from Metroid?"

"That's what I figure."

"What? Did he make up his name or something?"

"That's what I figure."

"That's actually really stupid."

"I think Asuka isn't exactly fair to Star. At least not as fair as she should be, anyway," Hikari commented, frowning slightly, "I mean, look at him. He doesn't look that stupid, right?"

"Well, he named himself after a video game character who happens to be a girl," Bianca replied, shrugging, "I mean, let's face it, if he named himself after someone from Final Fantasy, that'd be weird enough already, but to go with Samus? I don't mean to lampshade this or all, but that's just stupid."

"I guess, but-"

"He called me a Nazi, okay?" Asuka replied, "I think that's enough reason for him to be stupid."

"Yeah, I agree, that made him an ass in my books too, but even so-"

"And he hangs around with Wonder Girl, too," Asuka grumbled, glancing at the azure haired girl from the corner of her baby blue eyes, "That's a definite problem right there."

"The First Child?" Bianca asked, "She kinda creeps me out. I'm not gonna lie, something about her expression. Maybe the lack-there-of."

"She's a damn doll, that's what she is," Asuka replied, laughing sardonically, "An emotionless little doll."

#

"I swear, the way you described that girl Bianca I was gonna say she might be cool to hang around with, but it seems she has some pretty weird friends," Toji said, frowning as lunch around.

Shinji laughed mildly. The three girls were off in a corner eating their lunches, for the most part, alone, save for each other. She found it disturbing how the redhead had been sought out by every male in the school upon her initial arrival, and yet, when Bianca came, no one seemed to even want to approach her, but rather were content to stare in either horror, amusement, or surprise as she lugged her body around. Shinji didn't think she noticed, thankfully, because of how friendly Asuka and Hikari were being to her, but even so, he felt very bad for the poor girl.

"Look, I know you have weird tastes in women, but she looks like she could just pick you up and eat you," Toji said, flatly.

Shinji must've been staring at Bianca. He jumped up in the air for a moment, flustered as his face turned red. "What! No, I was just concerned-"

"Yeah, whatever," Toji laughed, "Anyway-Hey, what's up Star?" Toji laughed, glancing up as Star approached, Rei Ayanami behind him, as the two of them sat down. Rei took a seat right at Shinji's side, and adjusted herself, drawing ever slow slightly closer to the Third Child, her lips pale and faint. Was she getting enough to eat? She seemed a little wane, even a tad sickly. Sure, her default skin tone was white, but this was a sickly sort of paleness that belonged to the dead and dying.

"Well, is that new girl the Fifth Child?" Star asked, smirking.

"Yeah. Nice girl," Shinji replied, "Very friendly."

"Friendly, huh? If ya ask me, she kinda looks a little like she's been to Dunkin Donuts too much lately," Star chuckled, "Ah well, at least she isn't a bitch like the redhead."

Shinji's jaw clenched for a moment, but he relaxed. He had learned to accept Star's callous comments as just being a part of himself, much as how Asuka said very cruel things from time to time. However, when Asuka made such comments, Shinji was sure the redhead didn't mean all of what she said. With Star, though, that wasn't the case: he genuinely felt Asuka was a bitch and that Star was a ball of fat.

"I get the vibe you don't like girls too much," Kensuke laughed, gesturing toward Star.

"What? Whaddya mean by that?" laughed Star, "Are you calling me gay or something?"

Kensuke laughed for a moment before holding back his chuckles, a slight, teasing grin on his lips. "Well, no, not exactly. You just tend to hate all the girls we know. I mean, you call Asuka a bitch constantly, you completely disregard Hikari, and now this new girl comes in and, all of a sudden, you're already making fun of her."

Star's lips curled into a slight frown. "Yeah, but did you see the size of her ass?"

"Yeah, so she's a little hefty. I mean, that's not a real reason to make fun of her, is it?"

"No, but does someone really need a reason nowadays to make fun of somebody?"

Shinji frowned at this. "Look, I mean, let's just eat lunch in peace, alright? They're not bothering us, so there's no reason to antagonize them, either."

"Yeah, actually, now that I think about it, when was the last time Asuka did something stupid in class?" Toji wondered aloud, "I don't remember it. That's for sure."

"The Second Child has not committed any acts of obscenity in the past several days," Rei said, coolly, "It's uncertain that she will ever do so again."

"Why do you say that, Rei?" Shinji asked, surprised by her lack of apathy, even by Rei's standards.

"Because she feels vulnerable."

#

"Am I the only one that feels a little vulnerable wearing something so skin tight?" Bianca asked, examining her pudgy arms as they filled out the confines of her plugsuit so tightly that the uniform barely needed to shrink to her form. The confines of the locker room left the trio of Asuka, Bianca, and Rei within close proximity, so the redhead had the distinct pleasure of seeing all of Bianca's bare, nude body in all its trembling glory. To say that she wasn't in both awe and astonishment was saying the least of the matter. Perhaps it was because she was so used to seeing her own body every day that the sight of someone's so dramatically different left her feeling a little uncomfortable.

Rei, however, regarded Bianca's body with mostly indifference. How did that girl do it, anyway? How did she manage to remain so cool, so collected like that all the time? Maybe she really was a doll. Just Wonder Girl's presence was starting to bother Asuka. That nightmarish apathy, that lack of regard for anyone, even herself. Was she even human? Wasn't it human nature to be even a little selfish sometimes? What did she want for herself? It must be something? Was it attention from the Commander? The attention Rei received but the far superior pilot didn't? Even Shinji didn't get that sort of attention, but Rei was a special case clearly. Why was she so damn special to that man? Why couldn't Asuka be the one praised and admired instead of that blue haired freak?

Why!

Was it because she wasn't wanted? That had to be it. She was unwanted and unloved. Then again, she always had been. No one wanted her, nor could anyone want her. She was a hated, horrible wretch who deserved to be called things like "Nazi" or "bitch," if not only because of how cruel and rotten she was on the inside. Sure, she looked beautiful, maybe, at skin level, but if someone looked into her heart, she knew that no one could ever equal her in sheer hideousness. She was an evil seed, a cruel bitch without a real heart. In the end, she was everything her mother had thought she was: an empty, soulless doll.

Something that deserved to die.

No, she didn't want to die. What was she saying? No, she wasn't suicidal, nor could she be. She didn't want to think those thoughts. Why was she thinking that? It was a twisted idea, cruel, desperate, oh-so-appealing-what was she thinking? She needed to snap out of this. This was escalating outside of her realm of control. Just what was happening to her? She hadn't felt this bad since before Bianca arrived, when Rei was overshadowing her.

This was all Rei's fault!

"You okay?" Bianca asked, placing a hand on the German girl's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Let's go for the synch tests."

#

"Bianca's synch ratio is a little lower than expected, but it's above Rei and she's catching up to Shinji. They're all pretty close," Maya chuckled.

"I think they only look that close because Asuka's score is so low," Ritsuko observed, glancing at the computer monitors overlooking the testing facility. Each child rested in their tube filled with LCL, their faces and expressions shown on the monitor. Shinji, Bianca, Rei, and Star all looked at ease with themselves, at utter peace and serenity. Asuka, however, clenched her muscles tightly as she struggled to hold herself still. If Ritsuko wasn't very much mistaken, the girl was even crying a little bit.

"Maybe we should tell Asuka to stop," Maya asked.

"No, that'd only hurt her pride even more," Misato commented from the back corner, "Maybe we should lessen her activity, though. It looks like she had a bad day or something."

"Yeah, she needs to focus," Ritsuko said, before grabbing the microphone in her hands, and placing it to her lips.

"Wait! I just told you NOT to do-"

"Asuka, your synch ratio slipped another 2.3 points. Focus harder!" Ritsuko demanded, only for Asuka, as Misato saw in the monitor, to open her eyes, frantically glancing up at the camera in front of her, teary eyed.

"Hey, I'm trying!"

"Try harder."

"Ritsuko! Ever hear of the fine art of tact?" Misato asked, snatching the mic from her friend's hands. "Listen, Asuka, are you sure you don't want to stop for today? You look a little stressed-"

The sirens rang.

#

Rei stared simply out before the expanse of land before her. She sighed, heavily. She felt this odd sensation boiling away in the pits of her stomach. What was this emotion? This odd feeling that left her feeling achy and heavy? Was this the emotion known as stress? As anxiety? As fear? How odd it was, how all consuming yet subtle. It seemed almost to exist, like a cloud, out in the open without anyone ever being able to grasp it in their hands, to grab hold of entirely. Alas, like a cloud, it drifted throughout Rei, and soon this prickling boiling sensation filled her entire body, overloading her senses.

No, she needed to focus.

She remembered the words she shared with Star before entering the Entry Plug. His lips curled over his teeth as he shared his plot, amused at his own idea. Rei felt a little hesitant to go through with this, especially considering how the Second had not shouted or cried out at anyone these past few days. Indeed, perhaps she had finally learned her lesson, and, even after informing Star that she felt the entire new plan was meaningless, he replied, in his off-hand nature, "This is just to make sure the lesson sinks in, ya know?"

And so Rei sat in her plug suit, staring outward at the expanse of trees before her, standing alongside her comrades, Shinji, the Fourth, and Second Child. Sadly, the Fifth Child had yet to retrieve her Evangelion from her home nation, so, alas, she was forced to watch from the sidelines. Rei was strangely curious about that newcomer. While she stayed with the Second, she didn't seem to share that same cruelty that Pilot Sohryu possessed in spades. She wondered, on the inside, whether or not the Fifth saw something she didn't in the heart of the German girl.

Had Rei misjudged her?

There before them was the Angel, a spider-like creature with several long, massive legs that stretched higher than the tallest sky scrappers. The monstrous creature lumbered toward them, the obvious structural faults being the numerous legs that stood alongside its body. Rei realized an ideal way to stop the beast would be to destroy the legs and leave the body helpless. The legs might serve a good defense for the body if they attacked too soon, so it would be best to annihilate each leg first.

For better or worse, Pilot Sohryu came up with the same idea.

"That's a stupid idea," laughed Pilot Aran when Pilot Sohryu explained the strategy to use, "The body's right there. We should attack the body."

"No, I think Asuka's idea's pretty good too," Shinji said, "I mean, if we go for the target, those legs might get in the way. Besides, he'll be helpless if we break its legs first. Maybe we should go with her idea."

"What do you think, Rei?" Star asked.

Rei was about to answer that she indeed agreed with the Second, that it was intelligent to disarm the enemy before attacking, but then the German girl's words drifted into her ears from the monitor. "Wonder Girl? Oh yeah, like her opinion matters. The stupid girl probably wouldn't know a good idea if it bit her on the ass!"

"Negative, Pilot Sohryu. I know Pilot Aran's will work perfectly."

"Well, it's two against two," Shinji sighed, "Look, maybe we can compromise?-WOAH!" The Angel lunged forward during the lulling calm, drawing one spidery leg into the air before stabbing it down at Shinji. He threw out his arms defensively, the tip slamming headlong into his AT Field. Rei glanced out of the corner of her eyes as Asuka drew her rifle, aiming, before pulling the trigger. It was then that Rei did exactly as the Fourth Child had demanded.

#

An AT Field sprang up between Asuka's bullets and the spider. The Second Child watched, frustrated, as the bullets harmlessly bounced off the surface of the best. She continued firing until the bullets no longer rained hell upon the spider, the unsatisfying sound of no ammo filling the air. "Dammit! Ah well, second round!" Asuka snapped, preparing a little more ammo in the gun this time.

"Let a pro show you how its done," chuckled Star as he took a step forward, lazily tossing a progressive knife at the leg. Oh, so Mr. High and Mighty was here to show the German girl how it was done? If bullets didn't pierce the AT Field, did he really think a knife toss was somehow going to miraculously do anything at all?

Apparently, it did.

As the knife tore through the AT Field and stabbed itself securely into the joint of the leg, Asuka could only stare in disbelief. Shinji's Unit-01 tossed the leg off of his body, the force of him knocking aside being enough to snap the leg in two. Asuka could only stare in disbelief as one of the creature's six legs tumbled to the floor, the Angel now a lopsided cripple, but none of that mattered. No, the fact that the leg was missing was good, but how the leg had been knocked off kept filling Asuka's head. It was just a damn knife! A damn progressive knife with no momentum but behind it. She had unloaded a full round of ammo against that damn leg and nothing happened, but one stab and one push was enough to tear it apart?

She really was falling behind, wasn't she?

No, she couldn't be. It had to just be a coincidence. She had to have weakened that AT Field and Star just had a lucky break. No, this time things would be different. Aiming her gun straight at the nearest leg, Asuka fired, only for, to her horror, her bullets to bounce off the damn thing's AT Field. No! That couldn't be! The AT Field widened outward, knocking both the bullets and even the Angel itself backward. Maybe she was making the creature buckle from the force of her own assault?

Judging by the way the field remained standing around the impact area of her bullets yet twisted out of the way for Shinji's bullets as the ammo tore straight through the center of its leg, the leg behind that, and the third final joint, leaving the creature lopsided on the ground, helpless and powerless, clearly it wasn't that the AT Field was strong.

She was just weak.

Too weak.

She felt her fingers tremble, her joints convulse, as Star approached the angel, grinning at its massively large body, a Positron rifle in his hands, the beast struggling to stand, but only able to do nothing more than stare in horror with the massive eye on its belly and back, its strangely patterned body a spectacle to the eye but nothing more. With one harsh kick, Star sent the creature spiraling into the air, spinning round and round like a coin in the air, aiming the Positron rifle out before him as though he were holding a revolver in a Western movie. With one, single pull of the trigger, a jet of energy surged outward, soaring straight through the pupil of the eyeball, tearing into it, the blast soaring into space as the Angel was ripped apart, reduced to nothing short of ashes in the air.

All the while Asuka watched.

Silent.

In awe.

Inferior.

#

From the corner of her scarlet eyes, the blue haired girl stared at the German as she departed from her Entry Plug, her face distorted and twisted, her eyes wide and filled with horror. Her skin was pale, paler than even her own it seemed, her bloodshot eyes filling with another bodily fluid, one that Rei recognized as tears, salty raindrops that poured down her cheeks silently, tears that she brushed angrily away as she ran away, hair dancing in front of her face as she disappeared behind a corridor, the sounds of sobbing filling the air for a moment before disappearing.

She slunk away so fast, however, that only Rei seemed to notice her run off to hide her tears. Shinji had just left his Evangelion, smiling slightly to himself as he no doubt relished in the fact that he had, indeed, just aided in the defeat of a powerful, dangerous Angel. Pilot Aran emerged from his odd Evangelion, and, though he accepted her absence as no doubt a sign that what Rei saw had indeed transpired, he did nothing to acknowledge she was missing at all. Indeed, it seemed as though Rei alone knew what was going on.

She felt an urge to pursue after her. She wanted to follow the escaped pilot into whatever room she traveled off to, if not only to explain what had happened, perhaps simply out of guilt. She was the one who stole away her victory, even after she had learned her lesson. Logically, Pilot Aran's words made sense, but even so, if they made so much sense, why was it that, in the end, she felt disgust toward the woman who had pushed sadness into the heart of the red haired girl? Why was it that Rei felt an urge to slap her own face? Why was that the case?

She felt regret again.

#

Ondorf stared down at the security cameras from the security room, smiling as he acknowledged the fact that his total security clearance allowed him to access any and all rooms in the Nerv facility, even Gendo Ikari's private chambers, if he so desired it. However, if was a filthy sin to remain alone with another man, such a disgusting, horrid action that made him sick to the depths of his stomach. How dare those damn infidels glorify in their sinful acts in this heathen nation of Japan?

At least, in spite of the sea of oriental filth, there was one white gem.

He glanced down with dark eyes at the mass of red hair and the girl attached to it hunched over a sink in the girl's bathroom, smiling as he stared at her heaving form. Every inch of her trembled with each soft sob, as water splashed against her face rolled down the nape of her neck, absorbed into her skin-tight plug suit, a suit that emanated warmth from the depths of her body, tight and smooth like skin, warm to his old, dried skin.

Oh, how he longed to feel her hair against his face once more, to take in the scents that went along with her scalp. Such a beautiful, luscious-

But that was a fouler sin than even laying with a man. The girl was a child, not an older woman of years. After all, at his age of 62, he was far too old to be aroused by a mere school girl. It was a sin graver than all else, for she had not even experienced the hands of a lover even at this point in time. Perhaps it was wise for a more experienced hand to teach her the beauty of love's gentle caress, or perhaps he should abandon this sinful pursuit now and abandon the German girl for the filthy dogs that surrounded her.

Perhaps he could at least protect her from the filth and rabble that tormented her, the demons pursuing her so violently and harshly. Perhaps, in exchange, she'd open up to him, and, in the end, allow him to have his way with all aspects of her, be it emotional, spiritual, or physical. He felt a distinct urge to press his hand through the surface of the screen, to extend his grasp across the locks of scarlet hair, the warmth of her cheeks, a longing to hold the child against his chest, to feel her substantial breasts press against the little of his chest, her warmth absorbed into his body.

And then, perhaps, he can feel the joys of youth, like a young one once again.

Perhaps.

#

Author's Note: Just to quickly address a few things before continuing, each original character here functions as either poking fun or deconstructing a certain aspect of Evangelion fan-fiction. It's sort of obvious that Star Aran is a deconstruction/parody of the stereotypical Mary Sue OC type, but what about Ondorf and Bianca, you may ask? Ondort is a reference to all the fan-fics that insist that God is somehow involved in the Evangelion universe. I'm not going to go into a religious debate so I don't alienate my readers, but quite frankly, the religious symbols in Eva are only superficial. Nothing more or less. Still, people insist that the anime's an adaptation of the Book of Revelation or that it's dealing with themes of a religious nature. That's all well and good if this was Paradise Lost, but the crew of Eva were Buddhists/Shinto. Why would they create a Christian metaphor if they weren't entirely invested in our religion? Besides, they even admitted they only used the symbols to look cool, so really, they shouldn't be taken as literally. Additionally, by now it should be clear both characters also are deconstructions of the idea of perverse sexual lust toward these characters that seems to permeate throughout all OC characters. I understand both girls are pretty cute, but don't forget: THEY'RE CHILDREN! It's just so nasty and wrong on every level. Seriously, people…

But what about Bianca? Well, she's, in my eyes, an ideal OC. She's not obnoxiously beautiful, though still not necessarily unattractive. She has a cute personality, which isn't sugar-coated sickening yet not arrogant and sarcastic. She's liked, but not worshipped, and her problems are internalized, much like the rest of the cast of Eva. What are her problems? Well, you'll just have to wait and see for that. Sorry for the interruption, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the fic.


	7. Chapter 7

**Part 7**

"Hey, are you okay in there?"

For the past several hours, the German girl had locked herself within her bedroom, and, even as the warm scents of steamed vegetables and meat drifted through the stagnant apartment air, the redhead refused to abandon her chambers to even nibble a fragment of food. Shinji stared at her door, a strained frown on his lips as he considered the circumstances. Misato was off doing important work for Nerv, which she went off to do after leaving the headquarters in Kaji's car. Bianca, however, had been picked up by Hyuga in order to help manage to delivery of Unit-05 to the Japanese Government. That left Shinji and Asuka to fend to themselves, and, when left to their own devices, surprisingly, little occurred.

After all, little could occur is one of the duo locked herself away in her room.

"I made some food, if you're hungry," Shinji replied, only to wait for a response he knew wouldn't come, "Ya know, if you don't want to go out of your room to eat, I can always just leave the food outside your door, and you can eat in your room. Would you like that? Knock twice for yes, once for no." To Shinji's disappointment, no knocking blessed his ears. Frowning, he prepared his partner a plate of steaming, warm beef spread over string beans over rice, placing the dish right before her door before preparing himself a plate.

When he turned around, the plate was no longer there, the door closing behind a mane of red hair.

Shinji saw his chance and dove headlong into the door, prying it open with his shoulder. Staring into the darkness of the room, he called out for the German girl. "Listen, can we at least talk? I'm really worried about you, and I just want to make sure nothing's wrong." His eyes adjusted to the dim light floating out from the window over the bed and the light crawling in through the doorway, only to find a room that looked as though it had just been hit by a hurricane. Books and clothing were strewn across the room haphazardly, without any pattern or care in the world. The German girl's head slumped over, chopsticks in hand as she fed herself, slowly, her thin, trembling fingers barely able to hold food within her grasp.

She glanced up at the Japanese boy, her blue eyes glistening for a moment, framed between hanging locks of hair. After regarding him for a moment with piercing, morose eyes, she turned back to her food, placing the meats against her tongue as she began to chew. "You wouldn't listen to me. You wouldn't really care. Not like I'd blame you, dummkopf."

"Wait, not care? No, I care. Seriously, I do. I'm worried for you, just tell me," Shinji said, walking deeper into the sanctum, surprised that Asuka did nothing to stop him. Ordinarily, the girl would throw him out into a table if he infiltrated her private place, so why was she so willing to not only allow him access, but to allow him access when she was most vulnerable? It seemed a little counteractive to her usual defenses.

"Well, you couldn't help me. How can you? Have you ever felt like a big failure?"

"Whaddya mean? You're amazing. I mean, I couldn't do half the things you do," Shinji said, only partially honest. He was sure, given enough time, he could even surpass Asuka, but, alas, for the time being, she stood as an elite pilot, only surpassed by Star, and even then, it wasn't that far of a gap. Not really, anyway. If Asuka worked harder at getting better, she could even surpass him. "You can be a bit of a jerk, though."

Asuka chuckled at this, glancing aside with a sardonic grin on her lips. "A jerk, huh? Well, coming from an idiot like you, I really don't put a lot of credit into what you say." Her smile fell as she frowned, glancing out toward the window, a melancholy look in her eyes. "Still, what about the others?"

"What about them?"

"They don't seem to care about me anymore, you know?"

"What do you mean? They all care about you."

The German girl sighed, placing more food into her open lips as she frowned back at the dark haired child before her, staring at him as though he were some sort of retarded child that had been dropped on his head as a child. "Look at me. I'm a failure. I couldn't even kill on stupid-and all of the higher ups all swoon over Star, as though he's some sort of stupid, God damn messiah or something! I mean, he's not special, he's not even that interesting, and yet every time he does something great, they're all of a sudden interested. I can't stand that little bastard! He's such a pain in the ass! I just wanna-I wanna-ARGH!"

Shinji dodged a perfectly pitched pillow that slammed against the door, bouncing harmlessly off of it before landing on the floor. Asuka tugged on her own hair for a second in helpless frustration before falling onto her bed, covering her face behind her forearms. There was a moment of silence before Shinji dared to ask, slowly, "Well, what do you wanna do?"

The room was silent for a few moments more before a whispery voice, muffled slightly, said, slowly, "I just want to get rid of him somehow. Dunno how, dunno when, but I need him to just go."

"But how is that gonna make you feel better?" Shinji asked.

"Oh, c'mon! Don't act all high and mighty as though you don't have issues!" the redhead spat, "I know there's something going on between you and your dad."

"That's none of your business!" stammered Shinji, eyes wide with shock as the tables turned.

"What, did he molest you or something? Did he ruin your life? Well, imagine what you feel toward your dad is what I feel toward Star, alright? Does that make it easier for you to understand how throwing him out a window would be incredibly friggen satisfying? Does it make sense now? Huh? Good. Because I can't take this! I just can't take it! I feel like I'm gonna explode, or kill someone, or do something, but I can't, and I can't do anything. I just can't do anything. I can't. I can't. I can't. I just wanna roll up into a ball and die. Just go to sleep and die."

Shinji's eyes widened in horror as he stared down at this usually strong, firm girl, hell-bent on proving her superiority on a regular basis, as she curled up in the darkness, tucking he head against her knees, tears running down her cheeks as she glanced up, rubbing her face with the back of her hands. Shinji wanted to say that everything was going to be alright, that she'd be safe, but his voice had dried up in the back of his throat, making speech as he knew it all but impossible at this point in time. Salty water flowed against his lips as Asuka stared at him, sniffing loudly as she dried her eyes.

"You tell anyone I cried just now, and I'll rip your balls off."

"It's okay. I wasn't gonna tell anyone anyway."

"I know you'd probably laugh about it behind my back. I know what you guys say, about how I'm a bitch, or a Nazi. And, quite frankly, I don't like it. I'm sorry, but it's just-I'm not a Nazi! I don't have any problems with Jewish people, and I think Hitler's an asshole, but I know that's not why you call me one. It's because I'm German, right? That's it? And because-because-you think I'm a-a-" Tears began to roll down the redhead's cheeks anew as she crouched over, holding her face in her hands as sadness devoured her yet again.

This time, the timid boy drew nearer to the proud, broken girl, bravely extending his trembling fingers to her shoulder, placing his comforting palm against her skin, transference the warmth of their flesh into one another, filling them both with beautiful, melancholy heat. "Look, I don't think you're a Nazi. I tried telling them you didn't like being called that, and they said they'd stop."

"They won't stop. At least Star won't."

"But what does Star's opinion matter to you? Don't you hate him?"

"What does your dad's opinion matter to ya? I thought you hated the bastard."

"Listen, I know I have problems. I deal with them all the time. But you? C'mon, you don't have any problems. Your life is perfect. I mean, yeah, you're a little stressed out now, but how bad can it be? You don't have any problems, right?" The German glanced up at the boy, eyes curiously blank for a moment. Shinji's momentarily comforting grin slipped from his face. That wasn't a look of confidence, of a woman who had gone through life unscarred. There was something about that stare, something about the morose, emptiness, that left him both feeling icy and sad, as though he had just doused himself in frozen sorrow. But surely this girl couldn't have suffered that much, right? "Right?"

"I don't feel like talking about it," Asuka mumbled, turning away, placing her half-eaten plate of food at her bedside as she turned toward the window, frowning still.

"Hey, look, maybe if we tried talking about it, I could help you out, ya know?" Shinji replied, eyes wide.

"No. Don't think so. You'd never listen. You wouldn't get it." Asuka replied.

"What if I told you about what happened between my dad and me? Then would you tell me?"

"Why do you even care?"

"I wanna help you."

"Why?"

"Because I care about you."

For a moment, there was stillness in the room, once again filled with infinite silence. Finally, the German glanced over her shoulder at the boy, glancing through the dangling locks of scarlet hair that fell over her face, her lips pulled tightly over her face. "Okay, go ahead. Tell me, and maybe I'll tell you my story."

Once again, the boy felt his lips grow dry, his vocal cords tightened in his throat. How was he to say this, exactly? "Well, uh, my father, he and my mother, well, I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but my mom died when I was really young. I was told it was a lab accident, but everyone accused him of doing it, so I just always blamed him for what happened. I dunno whether or not he really did anything, but I had a reason to hate him when he left me at my mother's grave one year. He left me to live at my teacher's house for years, and then a few months ago just sent a letter and told me to come. It turns out all he wanted me for was just to pilot a stinking Eva. That's my story."

Asuka was silent for a moment before glancing out the window, her entire body sagging under the weight of her drama, unable to look at the boy. Finally, she said, still not looking at Shinji, "My mom died too, ya know."

"She did? How did it happen? Was it a lab accident? Car accident?"

She was quiet for a moment before saying, slowly, "Suicide."

For a moment, there was a heavy weight in the room which pushed Shinji down against the ground, eyes wide in horror as the weight of those words sunk in. Suicide? A murder of the self? His eyes widened as he stared at the poor broken girl. In the silence, he could even hear the sounds of water colliding against the bed sheets, weighing them down silently as the moonlight filled the room. He stared at her back as she slumped forward, running a hand over her face. "It was, well, I was young when it happened, so how do I know why it happened?"

She knew why.

She just didn't want to say.

Shinji knew he needed to know the answer.

"What happened to her? Why did she do it?" Shinji asked, gently, "Please tell me. If I know, maybe I can help."

Asuka regarded him for a moment more, sighing. "Help? What do you think you could do, huh? Give me advice? Pity? Are ya gonna be a shrink or something?"

"No, I just want to be your friend is all."

Once again, silence filled the room as the seconds passed. Slowly, the German's lips moved, as the pitter-patter of raindrops echoed through the room, clear from outside as heavy drops rolled down the windows. "She went crazy. It was stress from working on some sort of project. I think the Eva Project, actually. Anyway, what happened was she got sick. Not physically, ya know, just-oh, why the hell am I telling you all this, anyway? This is stupid. Dummkopf." Shinji remained silent as he let Asuka regard herself silently. Slowly, the words returned to her mouth. "I was only a kid, too, so-do you know how it feels? To just see your mom there, just sitting there, staring at the walls in a bed, or at a-at a-but she never knew the doll was a doll. She believed it was me. It was as though I didn't exist, as though I didn't matter to her.

"But then my dad, he-well, him and my mom's nurse-they started to, well, get together. It was disgusting. They'd do it in the room right next door to my mom. I'm sure she could hear it. It must've broken mama-er, my mom's heart. And they never cared about me. I heard everything, too, and all the things they said. All the mean, horrible-sniff-words they-they-they-they-" The German's words were impossible to understand as tears rolled over her lips, her face scrunched up so tightly that audible words were impossible to decipher any longer. She curled up into a ball, weaping into herself as she covered her face, hiding herself shamefully from the window, as, after all, she wasn't facing Shinji anyway. All he could see now was her profile, but that was more than enough to grasp the infinite sadness within the girl's chest, struggling to break free, despite the pain it caused.

"Listen, I'm sorry. You don't have to-"

"No, I have to finish. If I don't now, I'll never say it, and it'll just eat away at me for the rest of my life. I can't take this anymore. No one ever cares about me, and whenever they do, it seems like God himself goes out of his way just to make sure I suffer. I should've known from day one I was screwed, I really should've. The first day I was told I was a pilot, I went home to mama. I just wanted mama to see me, ya know? I wanted to hear her say 'Good job' or 'I'm proud of you' or just-just-just 'I love you.' Is that a lot to ask? Is it? And, when I saw her, she was just-just-hanging there. Drifting back and forth. And I was next to her. Not me, I mean, the doll was hanging next to her. She wanted me to die. She wanted me dead. She wanted-wanted-maybe I should've died. Maybe everyone would've been happier if I was never born at all."

"No!" Shinji stammered, "Don't think that! If you weren't born, then I wouldn't have met you, and then, well, I would've never been able to know someone like you."

"Don't try flattering me. I'm a bitch to you. I'm mean, cruel, rotten. I'm a horrible person who probably deserves everything that happens to me. Why're you being so kind, huh? Are you being paid? What's in it for you?"

"Nothing. I just-I just wanna help you because-because-you're my friend."

Asuka was silent for a moment, which allowed Shinji to feel the magnitude of her confession sink in. Her mother had killed herself after losing her mind? Her father cheated on her insane mother with her insane mother's nurse? This poor girl had discovered the body? Whatever happened in the Japanese boy's life was minor next to this. He could barely wrap his mind around it. How did a girl like this endure all that? How did she even manage to survive without going insane after all that? He wanted to give the girl a hug, holding her close and never releasing her, perhaps just so he could cry into her shoulder, just to prove that someone cared enough about her hardships to cry.

But he couldn't.

All he could do was cry.

The German girl glanced over at him, frowning slightly as tears ran down her own cheeks. Rubbing her puffy eyes, she asked, slowly, "Why're you crying, huh? Whaddya have to cry about?"

"I just wish I could help you. I dunno what to do."

"Why do you have to help me? I'm not worth helping. I'm not even nice to you."

"I don't care. I just want to see you happy. I wanna make sure you always get that attention you need, ya know? I wanna make sure you're happy enough to smile again. I-" Shinji caught himself before those words emerged from his lips, choosing to stop speaking before those three words he didn't know existed in his vocabulary in that order escaped. He didn't meant to say that, nor did he ever want to. Why did he almost utter those fatal three words? A trinity of morphemes that would leave him doomed?

Why did he almost say "I love you"?

"Shinji, would ya mind, maybe this once, sleeping in here tonight?" the German asked, "Not in my bed, obviously, in a sleeping bag, but, well, I just don't want to be alone. Not tonight. I just don't wanna be left alone anymore."

Shinji regarded her for a second, sad and broken, before replying, smiling best he could as he cried, "Okay."

#

Rei stared out of her own window, staring out at the moon high above her. It was a beautiful satellite, drifting throughout the heavens slowly, elegantly, as though it were a swan swimming across the gentle currents of a pond, the water around it the black night sky, graceful as the small fish-like stars drifted across its surface. She frowned, slightly, her eyes slowly going out of focus as she glanced at her hands. She lowered her head, slowly, as her hair fell over her face, the sensation of shame overwhelming her.

What would the Commander think if he knew she had interfered with the Angel's destruction?

He surely would be frustrated with her. Even more so, he might even grow to hate her. He could very well be disgusted by everything she did from that point on, unable to trust her to efficiently and effectively get the job done. Why did she do something so stupid, anyway? What did she have to gain, again? What was there that mattered anymore to her? Was all that mattered hurting the Second Child? Perhaps, Rei realized, as she ran a hand over her face yet again, feeling a by-now familiar sensation, one of self-loathing.

One of regret.

What an odd sensation it was. She had for weeks now suppressed it, telling herself it mattered very little in the scheme of things that she was saddened by her own actions. After all, emotions were something that tended to be outside of her grasp of understanding anyway. She was not a social butterfly to say the least, so learning the nature of interaction was never one of her strong points. No, rather she was always a shut-in, hiding from the outside, tending to avoid discussion and debate whenever possible, choosing to avoid even attachment in and of itself.

And yet, here she was: hurting another person out of spite.

It wasn't that Pilot Aran had ordered her to do it. Rei was hurting Pilot Sohryu because she wanted to see her suffer. She had a sense of anger and hatred inside the pit of her heart, one that longed to see the German girl burn for her sins, but seriously, what right did Rei have to accuse the German of being a sinner? Sure, she was mean to Shinji, but how often did the blue haired girl see the two of them together, talking? They walked to school together, interacting so freely, so openly. Everytime Rei saw the two of them together, she felt a sensation in her chest, a clenching tension that made her want to lower her head in a disheartened manor, her eyes staring at the ground, unable to look up at the two of them. What Rei would've given to be that German girl, so free to interact with others, so able to speak her mind, finding it easy to just tell people what was on her mind the moment it first came to the forefront of her conscious thought.

Was the entire reason Rei wanted to hurt Pilot Sohryu that she was jealous of her?

Surely that was it. All she wanted was to be her, not beat her.

So that made Rei the villain of this story, did it not?

That idea made her feel sick.

#

"You shoulda seen it! It was so big!" Bianca laughed as the three children walked into the facility, "I mean, I didn't think that the jets could carry it. It was tied to this huge cross thingy, and, well, it was just awesome!"

"I can imagine," laughed Shinji, "A cross thing? How did it stay up?"

"I dunno. It looks like super strong ropes or suspension cables of some sort," Bianca replied, frowning.

Asuka, however, wasn't listening. All she thought of was the night before. The image of her spilling her guts out to that stupid idiot filled her mind. She was so stupid. All she did was just babble and talk about her past to that idiot at her side. She couldn't forget the dreams she had that night. She just kept running into that room over and over again, seeing that dead stiff rocking back and forth before her face like a pendulum, eyes wide and tense as the seconds passed. She could hear her words in her ears again, cooing gently words of comfort and love, only for the words to dry up like a dead rose, crinkling up into dark death and grotesque words of both self-hatred and self-mutilation. Words that spoke of ropes and broken necks, strangulation and blood, of nightmares infused perfectly with dreams.

What a night.

She didn't know why she asked that idiot to sleep in her room. Even if he did drift off to slumber land on a few sheets thrown on the floor, she felt just short of bored of him. There he slept, like an Angel, on the floor, curled up on his mattress, listening to his tape player he held tightly in his fist. Asuka had been unable to drift off to sleep all too soon, so she spent the sleepless minutes preceding the horrible nightmares staring down at him, glancing occasionally from him to the rain covered windows, staring out at the moon.

She wasn't sure which was more beautiful to look at.

She had felt, for a time that night, that the boy was beautiful. That this idiot kid was somehow beautiful to attract her eyes, or her body. She felt this disgusting feeling welling up inside of her, a longing, a desire, a sensation that revolted her. She was too mature for such an immature emotion. She was too adult, and yet, even still, she just needed to satisfy her inner urges. She longed for nothing less to place her fingers on Shinji's hand, or at least caress his face. What an immature person she was, struggling weakly against the wants of the body. She felt, for lack of a better word, revolted by herself. After all, she was too strong to simply submit to this strange desire.

After all, it wasn't love.

Surely not.

Was it?

Christ, it was, wasn't it?

"So are you gonna activate it soon?" Shinji asked Bianca, bringing Asuka back to reality.

"Well, sometime later-"

"Asuka!"

The German girl glanced up to see a dark haired girl with freckles on her cheeks and nose, Hikari, darting headlong at her. She doubled over, gasping for air, resting her body weight against her slight knees as she panted, eyes wide with shock as she glanced up, a desperate, horrified, furious expression in her eyes. The redhead felt fear fill her chest. This emotion, this amalgamation of pain in her face, was not directed at Asuka, and she knew this. There was too much fear and shock in her face for it to be directed at the German.

No, Hikari was worried for her.

"What's going on?" the Second Child asked, her face pale.

"Someone posted a note on the calk board," Hikari panted, trembling with rage and shock, "I need a source of your handwriting, anything-"

"What kinda note?" Asuka asked, her voice lower as she felt her heart beat faster in her chest, her veins pulsating faster and faster as stress circulated through her body, through each and every vein.

"Look, that doesn't matter. We need to prove you didn't-"

"What kind of note was it, Hikari?" Asuka asked again, her voice flatter, vacant of any emotion other than muted rage and fear, her lips pale, her eyes widening by the second.

"You don't wanna know."

"Yes, I do wanna know. Tell me now, God damn it!"

Hikari sighed, running a hand over the scale of her neck before saying, slowly, not meeting her friend's terrified blue eyes, "It's a letter asking if you can have sex with Star."

In a heart beat, the quartet were at the door of the room, the German all but kicking down the door as fury filled her chest. How dare he do this to her? What the hell did she ever do to him? All Star had done was ruin her life in Japan, and now she was going to rip his head off by hand. She'd murder that bastard! Now she was doomed. Everyone here would never treat her right ever again. She'd be bullied, humiliated, and tormented. She'd be nothing, nobody special. She needed to be on top, needed to be superior, or else what was the point of even living?

If she had no one to tell her she was doing good, then she might as well just die.

If Star ruined her reputation, no one would tell her good job ever again.

If she had no one, she was just a nobody herself, wasn't she?

There sat that smug snake, surrounded by students, including that doll Rei, who was staring out the window. That oblivious little fuck probably helped him, no doubt, surely! That snobby, uptight little bitch thought she was so superior to everyone else, didn't she? She looked at how nervous the pale girl was, tapping her fingertips against the desk, the first outward display of any sort of emotion in a long time from that bitch. Oh, how unsubtle she was. Clearly she was excited to see Asuka fall and burn. Then she'd have less competition for the superior's attention.

Or was that what Asuka wanted?

"Alright, c'mon everyone, stand up!" Hikari snapped, "Who wrote this letter here?" She grabbed the note off of the chalkboard, knocking the magnets off of the board as she savagely held it into her hand, nearly crushing it in her fingers.

"Isn't it obvious?" Star laughed, along with the majority of the class, some more willing than others to chuckle at the German's misfortune. Her desperate eyes scanned the crowd to look for someone to defend her, and, though a few others refused to even chuckle, her eyes landed on the two last people she expected not to laugh: Toji and Kensuke. They simply stared out at the board, their lips held tightly in an angry frown. Toji even clenched his fist slightly.

"Look, Asuka, lemme see you're writing. C'mon, give it here," Hikari stammered, grabbing Asuka's notebook out of her bags, slamming it against the desk, pealing it open hastily to place the document of raunchy kanji next to her notes. Her brown haired friend stared at the paper for a second, her eyes widenin in horror as she backed away, her skin pale.

"What is it?" Shinji asked.

"The handwriting nearly identical," Hikari stammered, much to Asuka's horror.

How did he do it? How did that bastard do that? He did it. He managed to screw her over perfectly. He must be a master at forgery or something. How did he do it? She was ruined. She felt all purpose, all edge, slipping away as the seconds passed, her heart quickening hastily as she felt horror fill her body. Throwing out her arms, she tried to shout, but only found a meek cry escape her lips as static tears filled her desperate eyes. "I didn't write it!" stammered the German girl, her fists clenched, "Ya gotta believe me, I just don't know how to-"

"I think we have enough evidence here," Star laughed, rising to his feet, grinning, "The skank's just a stupid skank after all. I mean, I found this thing in my locker, and, well, it's just disgusting. Sorry Shinji, but you're living with a complete slut. I mean, who speaks that way? That letter's just disgusting. Shinji, I recommend you just broom her fast and get rid of her. Who thinks we should send her back to Nazi-vile?" Glancing over at Asuka from the corners of his eyes, he added, softly, "Back to her dead mama?"

The sound of a book slamming into the back of Star's head filled the room. The man stumbled forward, catching himself before falling flat on his face. He turned around, a livid expression in his eyes, to see Toji standing, holding another one of Kensuke's massive military history books, weighing it in his fingers as the seconds rolled by, eyes filled with anger and rage. "Alright, creep! I just wanna lay down some ground rules for ya. The occasional Nazi joke? Okay, that's funny. Calling her a bitch? I'm down with that. But that bitch sure as hell ain't a slut!"

Star glared at Toji for a few moments before shouting, eyes wide with frustration, "How the hell do you know that? Do ya live with her or something?"

Toji laughed a little to himself, "Well, lemme tell ya something ya probably don't know since you came here late. When Asuka first got here, everyone had the hots for her, so we tried to get a little money on the side by taking pictures of her and selling them."

"YOU DID WHAT?" Asuka stammered, eyes wide with rage, but Toji ignored her, glaring still at Star.

"All the time we'd photographed her, never once did she look like she was putting out," Toji snapped, "And besides, if she really was a slut, she'd probably be hanging onto a real man like me all the time."

"And what makes you a real man as opposed to anyone else?" Bianca asked, eyes slanted, in conflict with Hikari's total understanding to Toji's statements.

"Just stop talking, Toji. You're making things worse," Shinji sighed.

"And besides, I get the vibe Asuka's a lesbian anyway!"

"Will you just shut up!" Asuka snapped, "You aren't improving things!"

"I mean, you're always with Class Rep and Bianca. I'm sure there's something going on-"

"Toji, just stop talking!" Hikari snapped, much to Toji's shock. He slumped down in his seat, head lowered in horror as Star laughed to himself, smirking slightly.

"Well, until you offer any sort of evidence she didn't write it, you can't-"

"Hey, Asuka!" Shinji stammered, rising to his feet after reading the note, eyes wide in realization, "I want you to do something."

"What?" Asuka stammered, eyes desperate.

"I want you to read that note aloud, okay?" Shinji asked.

Blush filled the redhead's cheeks as he snatched up the love note, eyes narrowed. "What? Do ya want me to say this crap aloud or something? What? Do you get off on this or something?" Why was it that, right now, beating the helpless Shinji with her words make her feel just a little better about her plight? She was a terrible human being if she found amusement in hurting others as she did.

"Just try to read it."

"Try? Oh, c'mon! That's nothing!" Asuka grabbed the note, and began to read aloud. "Star, my beloved-uh-" Asuka didn't recognize this kanji. It looked sorta like dog. Maybe it meant-oh! Stupid! "My beloved sex mate, I really can't stop thinking about the size of your-er-chicken strips? No, wait, that's not right-oh!-that's-the size of your cocker spaniel and-and-uh-I-"

"You can't read it, can you?" Shinji asked, grinning slightly.

"Like hell I can't! Fine, if ya wanna know what it says, you read the damn thing!" Asuka snapped, throwing the crumbed up paper into Shinji's chest, "Jesus Christ!" The class began to murmer amongst themselves. Great, now she looked stupid and like a whore. She felt blush fill her cheeks as she longed to just curl up and die, or, better yet, blow herself up and take everyone, especially that bastard Star, with her.

"Look, she can't read Kanji properly," Hikari shouted, finally giddy to find a loophole.

"What! It's hard to start learning a new language when you're twelve, alright?" Asuka stammered, defensively, her face filling with blush.

"You're just making this all up," Star laughed, smirking a shaky, horrified smile. The crowds began to talk amongst themselves more, Star's lips twisted with a giddy, toothy grin, but his eyes wide, filled with pure terror at being overwhelmed. "C'mon, guys, it's obvious they're all lying, right?" The students talked amongst themselves, most shifting uncomfortably in their seats, unable to look Star in the eyes. The German girl felt her heart beat faster, stronger than before, but this time with the potential of seeing this bastard see his just deserts, to be overthrown from his high horse and fall, to fail at being so damn cocky. Maybe this would turn around.

Just maybe.

"Rei! You were with me, right?" Star laughed, nervously turning toward the blue haired girl, who avoided looking at him, staring instead out the window. "C'mon, look at me. Tell 'em! Didn't you see her put the letter into my locker? C'mon, tell 'em!" Still, the blue haired girl refused to look, but the redhead noticed how, for one of the first times since the German girl met the blue haired enigma, she showed a twinge of fear in her pale face reflected in the window.

"She didn't see anything," Shinji snapped.

Star ignored him, rushing to Rei's side, pulling her up by her collar to her feet, the blue haired girl staring at the floor as Star pulled her into a standing position. She refused to look at him as Star laughed, his laugh high and filled with anxiety integrated with terror. "C'mon, Rei! Tell all of them! Don't be so quiet, just say something, anything. God damn it, tell them! Tell them what you saw, God damn it!" Star's fingers struggled against the air, as though he wanted to strangle the oxygen around him violently.

Slowly, Rei glanced up at Star, a diehard expression now present in her eyes, despite her skin still remaining a shade of green and white. That bitch was going to collaborate his story, wasn't she? If she did, then there were two witnesses, and Asuka was doomed. After all, everyone knew Rei rarely spoke, so, if she said Asuka did something, surely someone who hated to get in anyone's business speaking out was enough to sway the crowds back to Star's side. Asuka was screwed.

Rei slapped Star across the cheek.

Star's fingers pressed gingerly against the red handprint on his face, his expression, for a moment, blank and vacant. Rei herself even seemed a little surprised with herself, staring at her own hand as though it were an alien object, something foreign to her. However, as the seconds passed in silence, it became clear that the blue haired girl seemed not only satisfied with her actions, but even happy she did it, her lips still and motionless, but her eyes sparkling with a joy that a smile could not relay. However, with every second that passed, Star's shock gave way to fury, her lips tightening as his own fingers curled into a fist.

There was a mass gasp of horror as Star's fist collided straight into Rei's jaw, blood spewing against the desks as she slammed headlong into the floor, slamming her shoulder against the ground. There was an audible crack that echoed through the room as Wonder Girl's arm twisted around under her chest, visibly snapping under the force of impact against the ground. Her eyes were wide, but she couldn't even make a sound, save for gagging on the blood running from her mouth. Her jaw looked dislocated, but Asuka was no medic.

But she knew when someone deserved to get an ass beating.

And Star was one such person.

The German girl swore at the top of her lungs in her native tongue as she slammed the heel of her foot into the back of Star's back, throwing him against the nearest desk. The object shattered apart into splinters as the redhead dove down, grabbing Star by the hair. Hastily, she punched the back of his head, forcing his face against the floor yet again. She could hear his nose snap as she dragged him up above the ground again, blood running over his lips. However, it was then that Star reached around, grabbing the German by her long mane of hair, pulling harshly against it, pulling her down toward his fist, a fist he slammed against her forehead.

However, his knuckles barely cut his skin.

With a sharp punch to his elbow, the hand clutching Asuka by the hair jerked aside, his fingers slipping through her locks, as his broken arm fell against the ground. With a sharp kick to his ribs, the sound and sensation of shattered ribs filled the air. She grinned to herself as she stood over the battered victim, dragging him up to his feet once more as she heaved him into the air, over her head, and threw him headlong into the chalkboard. The very hard material of the board shattered upon impact, a crater forming in the wake of contact. Blood ran down the scale of the cracked surface as the pathetic Fourth Child fell in a heap on the floor.

She glared at his broken body before spitting on his unconscious head. "Ain't so tough without you're big fucking Eva, are ya?"

#

"Allow me to confirm what was reported to my office," Commander Ikari said, reading the list of offenses made against the Second Child, who sat, head lowered in horror, staring at her overlapped hands on her lap, "Is it true that you just indulged in a fight with the Fourth Child?"

"It's true, sir," the German said, the darkness of the Commander's chamber consuming her, her heart thumping louder than ever.

"Is it also true that you fractured three ribs, broke his nose, shattered his elbow, and caused serious damage to his hips?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Excuses are unbecoming. Is it also true that you caused severe property damage to the classroom, including shattering a desk and critically denting the chalkboard?"

"Yes, I did it! I'm sorry, but-"

"Is it also true," Commander Ikari said over her, his voice now with a note of finality, "that you did this all after the Fourth Child caused serious injury to Rei Ayanami?"

The redhead was silent for a moment, staring at the Commander with a note of confusion. She didn't know how to respond to that question at the moment, but chose to be honest. She nodded, slowly. "Yeah, that's true, sir."

"Good. That's all I wish to discuss. You are now excused, Miss Sohryu," Commander Ikari replied as he rose to his feet, "I hope to see that sort of violent intensity against the Angel in the future and not against other pilots, but, under the current circumstances, I think it's best to give you a strong warning as opposed to any major penalties. We are down two pilots for the time being, and, until they recover, you possess the highest synch ratio. Now go before I consider an alternative punishment."

#

"You know, Gendo, you should've given her a harsher punishment," Fuyutsuki said, smirking as the two of them walked down the hospital hallway. Gendo remained silent as he stared outward before him, a determined, unreadable expression on his face. Still, the old man knew his college well enough to know this sort of expression. A grin on his lips, he added, a chuckle on his tongue, "He sure did a number on him, I'll say that much. He'll be out for a couple months like that. Just as you hoped, right?"

"His arrival interfered in the scenario, so hopefully the old man's plan will crumble about now. Tell Ryouji Kaji to continue his investigation. The Fourth Child's injuries will recover, so we should be ready for whatever Chairman Keel has in store for us when he does."

The two men stopped in front of a door, which drew back. Within the simple room a hospital bed, Rei Ayanami's broken form resting on the bed, covers drawn up to her chest as her arm, placed in a cast, rested over her breasts. Thank God her jaw and shoulder were only dislocated, a simple fix. Her arm might take longer, but she'd be back in action long before Star Aran.

However, to Fuyutsuki's surprise, Rei was not the only occupant in the room. Sitting beside Rei's bed was Shinji, whose head was slumped over, a simple sound of slumbering air drifting out of his nose and mouth, eyes closed over. At once, Gendo's expression changed for the briefest of seconds. Though his dark glasses hid the change from the world, Fuyutsuki recognized the subtle tick in his muscles to know his eyes had widened, his bloodshot whites visible for all to see, had his glasses not concealed the sight of his inner soul within his pupils. However, he suppressed even that almost as soon as he had expressed the genuine emotion, hiding behind his mask of indifference.

He may have fooled the world into believing he was heartless, but Fuyutsuki could not be tricked so easily.

"Fuyutsuki, escort the Third Child out of the room," Gendo said, apparently indifferent.

"Alright, I will. Would you mind rousing him for me?" Fuyutsuki asked, smirking.

Gendo glanced over at Fuyutsuki with a look of mild irritation before approaching the boy, placing a hand on his shoulders, patting him slightly. "Shinji. Wake up, Shinji."

Slowly, the young boy stirred, opening his eyes drearily. He glanced up, only to jolt erect and stiff upon seeing his father standing above him. He staggered to his feet, eyes wide and anxious as he stared up at the man towering over him. "Fa-fa-father! Uh, I was just completely-uh-I was-uh-"

"You can relax, Shinji. Fuyutsuki will escort you to Captain Katsuragi's apartment if you wish it," Gendo replied, turning toward the body on the bed.

"Okay. I'm sorry-"

"There is no need to apologize. You did nothing wrong," Gendo replied, standing still over Rei's body, refusing to even give Shinji a second glance. The young boy nodded, slowly, before walking alongside Fuyutsuki. As the old man took the young boy away, he noticed, on the lips of his superior officer, a small, melancholy smile for but a second before disappearing yet again, the façade of indifference dominating all emotion yet again.

#

"The Fourth Child has been injured! What sort of insanity is this!"

Ondorf lowered his head before the twelve monoliths before him, all labeled by number, the number one great hologram staring down before him, glaring down at his very being with eyeless fury, a deity and being greater and vaster than any sort of God or devil that could stare the holy Seele member down. "Forgive me, Chairman, I had no idea this was going to occur. It would appear that he was in a fight against another Pilot, and injured himself severely. He will still be able to fulfill the scenario as originally intended, but I'm afraid he'll be out of commission for a good deal of time."

The great Keel's monolith was silent for a moment before his deep, monstrous voice echoed outward, filling the entire chamber with his mighty, God-like voice. "I see. In that case, ensure that the plans to sabotage Unit-06 are put on hold. We require more Eva units. I'm sure that the Angels will meet their ends, but we need to throw as many spins to counteract Gendo's suspected scenario. The scenario must go according to plan, or else all will be doomed."

"I understand, sir," Ondorf said, a frown on his lips, "It would appear that I will need to affect things sooner than you wanted?"

"Naturally."

"I understand, Chairman. I assure you that all will go according to Seele's scenario, by the will of God himself."


	8. Chapter 8

**Part 8**

"So this is Unit-04, huh?" Misato asked, staring up at the gargantuan structure looming above them all. The work chamber around them was filled with steam as the machines struggled to gently lower the heavy weapon down into the docking bay. As Hyuga, Aoba, and most of all Maya managed the computers that gently lowered the new Evangelion, all Ritsuko could do was stare at the structure, in its lean, golden armored glory, dressed in a suit of armor akin to something the knights in the Crusades might wear, a grand sword held at the creature's hip. If it wasn't for the great trio of horns sprouting from each shoulder, Misato might've confused the behemoth as an oversized man.

"Yeah, no obnoxious monikers forced onto it, efficient and energy efficient, we have the most powerful unit by far in our hands," Ritsuko cooed, "Only downside is, of course, that Bianca's synch ratio isn't nearly on par with some of the other pilots, so she can't bring out this Eva's full potential. However, given time, maybe she will."

"Eh, true," Misato commented with a shrug, chugging down a gulp of beer from a can before turning away, "So, what's the status on The Fourth Child?"

Ritsuko chuckled to herself as she lit herself a cigarette, a grin on her lips. "Well, let's just say he'll be out of commission for quite some time. Let's just say our red haired friend did quite a number on him."

"Let's just say we lost a very strong pilot because one of them was an idiot," Misato said, sighing, "And, honestly, if I were Asuka, I'd probably have strangled the bastard. Still, I'm surprised the Commander went so easy on her. I mean, you'd think he'd go nuts, or something."

"Have you ever seen Commander Ikari mad? Frustrated? Passionate, even?" Ritsuko asked, chuckling to herself.

"I suppose not."

#

"I can't feel your fire."

Gendo Ikari glanced unenthusiastically to the sweaty form beside him, her blonde hair sticking to her forehead as she panted gently at his side. How odd it was to feel another woman on him, to feel her soft flesh press against his own, to breathe into her, to exhale out because of her weight pressing down against his lungs, against his sensitive areas, against a reproductive gland inches away from a waste depot. Amazing how imperfectly perfect the human body was, how merely gazing upon one could send a shivering, trembling desire rattling through ones form.

Just as amazing was that Ritsuko failed to please Gendo as Yui did.

But he needed her, not for pleasure, but for profit.

"I apologize. I have much on my mind as of late."

"You always have stuff on your mind," Ritsuko sighed, tilting her head in disapproval, "Tell me about it."

"There is truly nothing to tell. The Fourth Child is injured, and Seele is planning something. Beyond that, little else matters."

Gendo felt a lingering finger press against his shoulder, running gentle nail and tip against his collar bone. "What about me? Do I matter?"

"Yes," Gendo lied, "You matter a great deal."

Lying to someone's face came naturally to Gendo after all these years. He had, after all, done it so relentlessly over the years. He had lied to Seele whenever he reported nothing was amiss. He had lied to Fuyutsuki quite frequently, despite the man being quite a confidant. He had lied relentlessly to the Akagi family, a sin that left little impression of guilt or even remorse in the senior Ikari's mind. Most of all, however, he had lied to his son, a boy now ravaged by anxiety and guilt.

Just like his old man.

#

"Excuse me, Miss Langley."

The redhead turned at the sound of her German name, lowering the novel she held in her hands. Apparently, whoever had just called her was well aware of her superior origins as a member of the proud race of Germans. What a clever man, clearly full of insight and respect for the far superior, ultra-awesome race of Europeans. A grin on her lips, Asuka turned to face a man that had to be six times as old as the teenage girl was, and maybe the ginger was underestimating just how old this old geezer was.

"Uh, hello?" Asuka queried, a tad uncertain how to speak to a man who probably was applying for welfare right about now. Oh, wait, she recognized him vaguely, but she couldn't quite place where.

"I regret to have not made your acquaintance up until this point in time," the old man said, pressing each fingertip next to one another, his expression unreadable. Something about his eyes unsettled the German girl, but she ignored it. There were a lot of weird people in Nerv, like that idiot and Wonder Girl, so the idea that someone was odd here was nothing really to write home about. "I would like to introduce myself. My name is Ondorf."

"Oh, you're that guy who came here with Star, right? Misato mentioned you," Asuka replied, feeling anxiety grip her. She had just pummeled Star the day before, an experience she'd love to relive again and again. Still, his caretaker wasn't exactly going to pat her on the back for her sins, was he? No, surely he was here to repremand her, even punish her. She felt the book in her hands tremble in her fingers.

Clearly Ondorf noticed this, as he placed a shriveled hand on her shoulder. "You needn't worry, girl. I'm not here to punish you. It's simply that, as Star Aran's guardian in this country, I need to look into any sort of assaults made on his person. My superior's have ordered that I query you a little, though I fear your little squabble was nothing more than a school yard brawl. I doubt you're a demon, so I needn't worry."

"A demon?" laughed Asuka, glancing aside, "I don't think that's the case at all. I'm more of an angel, wouldn't you say?"

Ondorf chuckled. "I'd agree with that sentiment, if I weren't an Archdeacon myself."

"Archdeacon? So you're a Catholic or something?"

"Something to that effect," Ondorf replied, "Are you?"

"Well, I don't have a large faith myself," Asuka replied, "Mainly because, if there was a God, why does everything suck so much?"

Ondorf's expression was difficult to read. It was almost as if, for a second or two, he recoiled in agony, as though putting his faith in question was akin to rape or genocide. However, after a second or two of relaxation, he sighed, his face sagging for a moment. "I can assure you, young one, that there are signs of an almighty creator in every aspect of your world, be it the good or the bad. It's simply that the bad is there to test us, to push our belief and sense of self to the absolute limits."

"Test, huh?" Asuka chuckled, frowning slightly.

"Indeed. What book are you reading, by the way?" Ondorf questioned, glancing at the novel in the German's hands. He took the brick into his own hands, smiling. "Les Miserables? Interesting choice of novels for someone of your age."

"I'm trying to figure out Kanji better, and I guessed, since I already took a class on Hugo in college, this is a good place to start."

"His style seems a little difficult for someone of your age."

"I'm young, not stupid, ya know. I can read this sort of stuff. It ain't that hard."

"But Hugo's works often require a more mature eye reading them to catch all the subtle implications and details. Only age and experience can bring a full understanding to the subject matter. Still, for a girl of fourteen to be even attempting to read a novel of that caliber is commendable to say the least."

"I'm thirteen, actually."

"Even more commendable. Clearly your mind is of a higher caliber than most of your peers."

"Aw, I'll take that as a complement." It was about time one of the adults respected her for all her grandeur and glory. After all, she was one of the best, no, THE best in this entire facility at, well, just about everything really. It was nice for someone to confirm her sense of self-regard as not being mere egotistic raving and as a genuine given. "So, Mr. Ondorf, what novels have you read recently? You look like someone who's well-read, and, considering you're talking about Hugo, I'm assuming you've read more of his stuff?"

"Indeed, I have. Though, I must admit, I'm not particularly fond of The Man Who Laughs. If I may say so, it was far too dreary for my tastes."

"Well, that's life, right?"

#

"That's not an excuse," Toji snapped, punching the table for effect as Shinji sighed, running a hand up his face. Why'd he mention it? Why was he stupid enough to even bring up the topic of her redhead roommate? Sure, she did beat Star to a pulp yesterday, which was strangely satisfying, but, alas, what was the point of bringing up an event that was no one's business in front of both Toji and Kensuke? What was he to gain from all that? Just a heard interrogation from his friend. "Look, if you had a heart-to-heart with bitchy-mc-bitch-face, I wanna know. No, I NEED to know. You can't just say you talked to her and she said a lot of personal stuff and NOT expect me to ask why. I need to know."

"Nothing special, Toji. Just girl stuff that's bothering her," Shinji said, finally finding appropriate words.

"Like it was that time of the month or something?" Kensuke asked, "I can help. My sister goes through that all the time!"

"Kensuke, you don't have a sister," Toji grumbled.

"But he doesn't know that!" Kensuke harshly whispered, poorly attempting to keep a secret.

"No, really, it isn't anything that interesting. She, well-she just told me about the time she burned her hair while flat ironing it, and-yeah, and that's it."

"Oh, that's what it is?" Toji laughed, "Guess that explains her fiery red hair." Toji turned back in his chair, turning toward the table where Hikari, Bianca, and, specifically, Asuka sat. With a laugh on his lips, Toji shouted, "Hey, Asuka! Watch out for that hair of yours!" As Shinji applied his palm directly to his forehead, Asuka cocked her head in confusion, an eyebrow raised for one confused moment before being treated to a chorus of laughter from Toji, a grin on his lips.

"Why do I talk to you again?" Shinji mumbled, shaking his head.

#

"That's the guy you have a crush on, Hikari," Asuka grumbled, "Take a good look. Now, are you sure you don't want to get your head examined? It's not too late."

"No, really, it's fine," laughed Hikari, a small, bashful grin on her lips. Was she charmed by that idiot? How did that work out, exactly? What was it about idiot and jockish that she found somehow charming? It was an enigma to the German girl, and, even now, Asuka didn't get it. Not one damn bit. Was it his looks? Granted, Toji wasn't ugly, but he wasn't exactly Japan's Next Top Model either. His personality was nothing noteworthy either, no, it was noteworthy: noteworthy in that he was idiotic!

"Eh, he looks kinda cute," Bianca replied, smiling slightly as she munched on the food Shinji prepared that morning, "I mean, truthfully the guy next to him is kinda cuter, but, eh-"

At this point, Asuka gagged on her food. She stared at Bianca with wide, mortified eyes, her lips twitching in confusion for a second or two before stammering, "K-Ke-Ke-KENSUKE!"

"Uh, yeah?" Kensuke asked, turning around in confusion, only for a can to fly at his head, knocking him aside.

"Stay out of this!" Asuka snapped, withdrawing a second can, ready to throw it at the table of idiots, before soft fingers held down her hand. Man, Bianca's palms were soft, much like the rest of her body. Had it not been for her scarlet cheeks, her mildly shy expression, bashful yet filled with longing, she would've thrown a full can straight at the table to explode into the air, a geyser of liquid squirting out at everyone.

"Look, I just like dorky guys, okay?" Bianca replied, pushing her glasses up her nose, face still red.

"Oh, dorky is one thing. But him? Bianca, you can do MUCH better than that, believe me."

"No, I don't think I can. Remember?" The Italian girl placed a self-conscious hand on her pudgy middle before glancing up, frowning for an instant before a mischievous grin crawled up her lips. "Still, you can't talk."

"Whaddya mean I can't talk?"

"Oh, I know you have a thing for a certain skinny boy with black hair. Ya know, the really cute, timid, shy one."

"What? Shinji?"

"Yup."

"You're an idiot!"

"Am I?"

"Yeah, in Bianca's defense, you really don't hide it well," Hikari replied, shrugging.

"What!" The German Girl's face turned just as red as her face, heat emanating from her skin like radiation. Her? In love with Shinji? No, love was too strong. A crush, perhaps? This was idiotic. What was so appealing about his slender, sleek, smooth arms, anyway? And she had never found his gentle, serene, not too muscular and not too soft looking chest and abs, either. And she'd be damned if she gave a compliment to that boyish looking face of his. Damn, he was the epitome of everything a boy shouldn't be. Why the hell would Asuka fall for such a guy?

"You really don't hide it well," Hikari repeated, smirking as she regarded Asuka's scarlet face with a look of amusement, "Look, it's not that big of a deal. So we all have crushes on a bunch of idiots. Big deal."

"Yeah, well-"

"Is this seat taken?"

Asuka glanced up to see a figure she'd never expect by her side, an unreadable expression planted on Rei Ayanami's face. She stood above them, unhealthy pale skin a tad unsettling to the scarlet haired girl. The angelic girl before them, after a moment of silence, sighed, lowering her head ever so slightly as her bangs fell over her eyes. "I suppose it is taken. If you'll excuse-"

"It isn't, actually," Bianca replied, smiling tenderly, "You can sit there. It's alright, really."

Rei glanced over at her, passively, yet there was a sort of emotion on her emotionless face. What was this? A hint of gratitude? A suggestion of joy? A trace of thankfulness? As Rei Ayanami took a seat between Asuka and Bianca, Hikari smiled warmly as she leaned forward. "Don't you usually sit alone? What made you change your mind?"

"No reason," Rei replied, sitting still, her body stiff and rigid, shoulders raised almost defensively.

"Well, that's okay," Hikari replied, smiling just the same, "What're ya eating?"

Rei had brought over a small bento lunch, which she was picking gingerly at with her chopsticks. Softly, she said, "Vegetables."

"Are you on a vegan diet or something?" Bianca asked.

"Yes."

"Jeez, what for? You don't need to lose any weight," Bianca said, her own stomach rolling gently over the waistband of her pants.

"I don't intend on it, either," Rei replied, "I just don't care for eating meat." Rei placed more food into her open mouth, chewing gently before swallowing, and amending her previous statement by adding, "I don't like needing to kill animals to survive."

"Oh, really? I had some fr-knew some people who went vegan. Could never really understand why they did it, but I respected their willpower. Takes a lot to not eat meat. I couldn't do it. I like chicken too much. Oh, also roast beef. Burgers. Maybe also some pork. Yeah, pork is-guess it's clear where all this comes from now, huh?" Bianca laughed, placing her hands on her middle, a self-aware, self-degrading laugh escaping from her lips.

"Are you not satisfied with your current physical form?" Rei asked.

"It's called a body, Wonder Girl," Asuka finally said, feeling resentment surge out from inside her chest. Who did this bitch think she was? Just waltzing in here as though they were friends. Just because Asuka beat up Star after he hurt her, just because Rei's arm was broken and in a cast, didn't mean they were all best friends forever now. In fact, the more she thought about it, the more Asuka regretted pummeling Star at that precise moment. Now Rei probably thought she did it out of concern for her, or some stupid crap like that. The nerve of this stupid doll!

"I apologize," Rei replied, frowning slightly.

"Nah, don't worry. Asuka just has something up her butt," Bianca replied.

"No I don't," Asuka stammered, defensively. However, at that moment, Hikari rose from her seat, the feet scrapping against the ground. She approached her redhead friend, grabbing her by the earlobe, pulling her out of her seat, out of the room, down the hall, and into the bathroom. "What the hell was that for!" Asuka stammered, eyes wide as the empty bathroom reverberated with the sound of her voice.

"Look, clearly Rei wants to just have a few friends. You don't need to antagonize her so much," Hikari replied, frowning slightly.

"But she's-I mean-Wonder Girl-"

"Look, Rei's just a human being like the rest of us. She's probably just really shy, and you aren't helping."

"But she's such a freak!" Asuka stammered, eyes wide, desperate. Didn't Hikari see the words "freak" written all over Rei's forehead? She was unstable, or at least something was terribly wrong with her, amiss with her mind. She was unstable, imbalanced, just plain wrong, in some odd, inconceivable way. Was Asuka the only one who could see this? No, she couldn't be. Others had to see. She couldn't be the only human being who saw the truth, could she?

Was Asuka just paranoid?

"Look, maybe she is a-a freak, but she came to us, so that means she's a freak who wants to get-what's a good word?-un-freaky…yeah…"

"That was a lame one," Asuka replied.

"Well, your mom's lame!" Hikari snapped, a laughing grin on her lips. Asuka cringed slightly at this statement, forcing herself to laugh as an image of a dangling woman rocked back and forth to the rhythm of the dripping faucet. Leaking water reverberated in the gentle puddles below the pipes as Asuka's imaginary eyes burst into tears, her real ones struggling to sparkle, just to make it look like that lame joke was funny.

It wasn't.

#

"Major? You can't be serious."

"Indeed. Commander Ikari and I are going to need to go out for a little trip, but we felt we should just tell you now, incase you want to break out the champagne and celebrate while we're gone," Fuyutsuki chuckled.

"Wow, Major. Well, thank you very much!" Misato said, blushing, accepting the new badge, placing it on her chest with a look of shock. More privileges, more rights, more authority. This was something most people in her position would be leaping into the air over, yet why did Misato seem so indifferent? Did she expect this rank? Was this just something she felt was a birthright? Was it some sort of given that, eventually, she'd get this promotion?

"Don't look so excited!" Kaji's familiar voice filled her ears as his gentle, strong hands landed on her shoulders. She scowled at this, despite the lips in her heart smiling bashfully. She hated this idiot, hated him with a passion of a thousand suns, and yet, for whatever reason, didn't want him to remove his hands, longed for him to keep right there, with his fingers lingering against her skin. She felt scarlet crawl up her cheeks around her nose, her eyes on her feet.

"Aren't you supposed to be going to Sweden?" Fuyutsuki asked, frowning slightly.

"I am, you are right, but, alas, my flight has been delayed. So I suppose that means I'm stuck here for a little bit, doesn't it?" Kaji laughed as Misato blushed a deeper shade of red.

"Well, I suppose-" Misato's words were impossible to hear over the blaring sirens that filled the air. "Of course. Of course there's an Angel. You can't have a conversation without there being an Angel. Why wouldn't there be. Sweet Jesus!"

#

"You want us to do what!" Asuka stammered as Misato explained the plan to them.

"Alright, once again, for those of you hard of hearing, The Angel is falling from the stratosphere. Now, what I want is for the four of you to try catching the Angel."

"With what?" Shinji asked, "Our hands?"

"That's the idea."

"And what'll happen if we miss?" Bianca asked.

"We'll all go boom."

"This sounds risky," Rei commented, her skin paler than usual.

"Oh, it is. We barely have a chance at all."

"Don't we have any back-up ideas?" Bianca asked, "This is a government agency, after all. Why don't we just nuke the damn thing from orbit?"

"Well, we have other plans, but this one has the highest rate of success," Misato said.

"You gotta be kidding me," Asuka grumbled, sighing. She ran a hand up her face, her hair tumbling over her sky blue eyes as she stared at Misato. How could she look so content, nay, so happy about a plan that would probably end in the greater part of Japan being blown to Kingdom Come. This was idiotic, no, beyond idiotic. The chance of living through this was thinner than an anorexic model, and even then that was giving it too much credit.

"Hey, don't worry. You'll do fine," Misato replied, "Now, what I want you to do is follow this outline of the attack." Misato then explained an idea so abstract that the thirty second lecture spent on it could very easily be summarized in two words: ass pull. That's what this whole plan was: something Misato yanked right out of her pert derriere. That's the only way anyone could come up with a plan almost set up for failure.

"This keeps getting better and better, doesn't it?" Shinji grumbled.

"Tell me about it."

It was only then that a ringing sound filled the air. Misato was silent for a moment as she withdrew her cell phone, placing it to her ear with a slight smile. "Hello? Oh, Kaji! How're-WHADDYA MEAN YOU'RE LEAVING!-Don't wanna get caught in the explo-IT ISN'T GONNA EXPLODE, DAMMIT!-Important mission my ass! You get down here and-I am so the boss of you ya little snot! Now get your-halfway to Sweden? Oh that's just great!"

"Oh, this's just the gift that keeps on givin', huh?" Bianca asked, pushing her glasses higher up her straight nose.

"Look, if y'all do good, I'll give you a steak dinner!" Misato replied.

"A steak dinner?" Asuka replied, faking enthusiasm.

"Sounds appetizing," Shinji replied.

"Oh, are you sure you want to do that?" Bianca replied, placing a hand self-consciously onto her belly, exposed awkwardly in her yellow and silver plug suit, "I mean, I eat a lot, and I'd probably eat you out of house and home."

"Don't worry! With my pay raise as a Major, it shouldn't be that much of a problem." Misato waved off their concerns as she withdrew a notebook. "By the way, I hope this doesn't ruin your outlook on the fight, but it is recommended that you write a will if the worst should happen…"

#

Misato stood in the backdrop of the bridge, the numerous computer screens and technicians around her, typing furiously away, shouting out declarations of data and statistics utterly irrelevant to her. After all, this plan defied all logic, kicking reason to the curb in order to hope for the impossible. It would take a miracle to succeed at this plan, and who better to create a miracle than humanity itself? Then again, maybe she was too reckless. Maybe there was a better plan than this that she just didn't see right then and there. Surely there wer dozens of better plans.

Still, she had wasted too much time insisting this plan would work to back out now.

This was the only chance they had right then and there.

God help them all.

"Last chance to back out," Ritsuko replied, "I think I have a few other methods that might work better, an-"

"Evangelion, move out!"

#

The sound of the air shattered through Shinji's ears as he pulsated straight through the sound barrier. The very earth trembled beneath his feet as the ground was ripped up from the shockwaves bursting around his Eva. Cars were thrown into the air by the hurricane winds generated just by him sprinting by the buildings of Tokyo-3. Thank God for the structures being triple reinforced by metallic structures that safeguarded against atomic explosions. Simply breaking the sound barrier next to them wasn't going to fell those giants.

Right?

"The Angel is closest to Rei, guys! Keep your heads up!" Misato's voice rang through Shinji's ears, but it was a mere blur next to the cacophony of sights and colors rushing past him. Still, the words registered in his head, and, in a mad dash, he darted toward Rei's sector. He could see clouds of filth in the distance, a trail of smoke behind the other two Evas. He ignored the sensation of impact surging throughout his body with each powerful step, focusing instead on the deity descending from the heavens, a great, long armed fiend who tumbled downward, like a comet falling from the heavens, its massive eye staring downward. Shinji didn't care what that satellite looked like, but that eye, the eye in the very pit of its grotesque form, sent nightmares into the back of his skull. It just stared at him, looking at the people it was about to murder.

Not now.

Not ever.

The angel fell into Rei's outstretched hands, the poor azure robot buckling under the force of impact. Her massive AT Field spread out before her, between her and the Angel. Sparks of light shot outward, past Eva Unit-01's skull. The light turned dark and fiery, as though virtue itself had been stripped from the light around the Holy Angel, a nightmarish sight for all to behold. That eye was staring down at Rei, glaring down at her, trembling frighteningly, as Unit-05 approached her.

Unit-05 stood like a night in shining armor, reaching for the scabbard at its side. With a quick snap of her arm, Bianca slashed across the air, severing the left arm of the beast. The fiend's appendage soared into the air, boiling into a mass of blood that tumbled down over them, or perhaps around them, as their AT field threw the acidic droplets of blood aside, leaving it to burn the very ground and trees at their feet. All, that is, except for Ayanami, whose Eva was consumed by blood. She shrieked in pain as her knees buckled, her body pressed underneath the weight of the Angel.

If that Angel touched Earth, they were all dead.

The Angel was ten yards from the Earth.

Unit-00 was almost crushed.

"Ayanami!" Shinji shrieked, nearest the epicenter of the impact, darted forward. However, he noticed a second form right behind him, a scarlet hulled form darting forward, knife in hand, outstretched and ready. With her higher synch rate, Unit-02 arrived before the Third Child, and, with a sharp kick straight at the eyeball that bothered the dark haired boy so, with a thrust akin to a Football player kicking a field goal, the Angel soared into the air, its acidic blood spiraling in great rain droplets all over the grasslands below.

"Hey, Bianca, shoot the damn thing!" Asuka snapped.

"I have a cooler idea," Bianca replied breathlessly, drawing the sword behind her head as she swung the sword through the air, no, threw it through the air. It spiraled like a boomerang into the air, straight across the iris of the Angel, flying out into the air. Bianca outstretched her hand as the sword reversed direction, going straight through the Angle a second time, leaving a cross-shaped entry and exit wound on either side of the beast. The moment the hilt landed in the Italian girl's palm, there was a great explosion in the air. Shinji braced himself as the Angel was reduced to flaming ashes, dancing in the air as the mountain trembled, but never fell.

And, with that, Japan was saved.

Again.

#

"So what did I tell ya? I knew that would work out fine," Misato laughed.

"Yeah, but you also said there'd be steak. That was Ramen take out," Bianca replied, frowning slightly.

"Yeah, well, I can accept that," Asuka replied.

"Besides, Rei could join us. Apparently she's a vegan," Shinji replied, "Didn't know that."

Asuka flipped through channels lazily as she rested a hand on her slightly distended stomach. It was sore from the sheer quantity of ramen consumed, but, alas, it was nothing compared to how much Bianca had eaten. That girl could eat! Yeah, she knew she was chubby and all that, but Bianca ate way too much to be at her weight. Sure, she was plump, but Asuka had seen Sumo Wrestlers consume less calories. The German could even see Bianca's stomach strained against the sheer mass she had consumed, which was saying something for someone of her size.

"Oh! Keep that on!" Bianca replied, pointing toward the television as Asuka passed by a movie that strongly resembled a romantic comedy.

"Oh? What movie is this?" Asuka asked, curiously, "This is a Japanese film. Didn't know you watched this sort of stuff before coming here."

Bianca nodded. "I don't usually, but I make an exception for stuff like this. It's really good! It's pre-Second Impact, 1999 I believe to be exact."

"So it's older than me," Asuka mumbled, "Ah well. It looks dumb. Like some romantic mushy crap."

"Eh, you'll see."

"So what's going on?" Asuka asked, curiously.

"Well, that guy's a movie director who lost his wife awhile back, and now he's holding this fake audition to find a new one, only they all think it's for a movie."

"That's kinda sleazy," Asuka replied, glancing back at the screen. She smiled for a second, before considering something else to add, only for the images on the screen to freeze the words in her throat dead, to paralyze them, as though numerous prickling pins had impaled each word in her voice box. "Wait, why's that girl in a room with-what the hell is that bag doing in there? What kind of romantic comedy is this?"

Bianca began to giggle to herself, a sadistic grin running up her lips.

#

"It is in the best interest of this group, Ondorf, if you inform us of the mental state of the Second Child," Keel stated, far away from Ondorf, his monolith hovering high above the Archdeacon's head. He was almost like one of God's holy host, a member of the choir of heaven, but only a man. Still, Ondorf's true Master was the Almighty One in Heaven, so even an idol like Keel was subservient even to Him. Regardless, Ondorf obeyed the German man, loyally.

"Her state of mind is foggy. Star's cruelty toward her has altered her state of mind so she's more open to suggestion, but also closed off from the others."

"Excellent. We need the children to be isolated from one another," voices rang out around him, incoherently repeating the same sentiment again and again.

"Ondorf, maintain your good work, and inform us of any new developments."

"That I will, Chairman Keel."

#

Misato stretched her arms out lazily as she threw herself down onto her futon, smiling gently as she did so. It had been a long day. A promotion, saving the world, all in the confines of a single night. It was a shame that both Fuyutsuki and Commander Ikari were in such a hurry to leave they barely noticed the fight. She sent a report out to them, and felt a sense of disappointment that neither party had responded yet. It was, in all regards, a success, with a minimal loss of wildlife and no human casualties to speak of. And, of course, Japan wasn't a giant crater.

Just before she was carted off to slumber land, however, the ring of a telephone dragged her back to the land of the living. Bitterly, Misato snatched the phone by her bedside, sitting up as she grumbled, "What is it?"

"Major Katsuragi?"

"Uh, Matoko? Is something wrong?"

The bridge bunny laughed sardonically at that, as though to kill some of the awkward tension between the two of them. "I guess you can say that, yeah. Something's wrong."

"Should I head over to HQ?"

"No, it's nothing urgent, just amiss."

"It's not about Kaji, is it?" Misato, for a second, feared something awful had happened. What if his plane had crashed or something? Sure, air travel was statistically the safest way to travel, but that statistic was taken before giant Angels tumbled down from the Heavens. Maybe something else had gone wrong, though. He was probably taking a small plane to be inconspicuous. Maybe some dreadful turbulence issue had messed up the directional system.

"Uh, no, it has nothing to do with Kaji," Matoko replied, a slight strain in his voice for some reason. "Actually, it's about-well-we were cleaning the plug suits before, you know, there are special procedures and all-and we found something was weird about one of them."

"What do you mean? Were they damaged?"

"No, not exactly, it's just that-er-Maya, you say it! I feel awkward!"

"Baby!" Misato could hear Maya shout as the phone shuffled between their hands. Maya's voice flooded Misato's ears soon after, though, as she began to explain. "Look, we were cleaning Bianca's plugsuit, and we found something that shouldn't be there."

"What is it? Blood? Was she having her period?"

"Uh-oh geez, you're right, Hyuuga, this is awkward-no, not exactly, though you aren't particularly far off. We found her-er-"

"What? Did she pee herself or something? Does she have IBS?"

"No, it's that-we think she had an orgasm while fighting the Angel."

Misato was silent for a moment before speaking. "What are you trying to say, exactly?"

"Well, honestly, we haven't got the faintest idea what's going on. We'd like to say we do, but really we don't know a lot about sex, which is why we called you. You're more experienced, ya know?"

"What's that supposed to mean, exactly? I never had an orgasm while killing something before. Look, maybe we should run some tests or something. What does Ritsuko think?"

Maya was silent for a second or two before saying, slowly, "She thinks that, maybe-has Bianca acted strangely since the fight?"

"She ate more than usual to the point she was physically sick, but beyond that, nothing much."

"How do you know she's sick?"

"Because, and she hid this well from the others, she went to the bathroom a lot, and I heard some retching."

"Oh, maybe she's just as disturbed by what happened as we are and she ate to settle her nerves. I dunno, but look, just watch out for anything strange, okay? And tell us if she tries to do anything that's at all odd. Do you get that?"

"I understand."


	9. Chapter 9

Sorry for taking so long for this next chapter. I was working on my NaNoWriMo story, which I finished in the time span of four days, after a couple weeks of plotting out the details…and completely throwing out all of that work when I realized I had a better idea after ten seconds of thought. ^_^ Anyway, here you go.

**Part 9**

A shadow slunk against the wall, gun raised slightly as his ponytail spread itself out against the recently washed wall. He glanced over around a corner, a slight grin on his sweaty face. Two men, each one with their backs turned. Neither of them were armed, apparently, but Ryouji Kaji knew better than to just let them walk away alive. They weren't too much of a threat, but, as he pulled the trigger, the muted gunshot vibrating through the air, he realized he needed a little target practice for the real meat of his mission.

Besides, they probably were threats anyway.

Kaji caught their bodies before they tumbled to the ground. Their heavy forms might attract unwanted attention. He propped up their bodies against the wall, where blood slowly trickled down the surface. He noticed a closet, where he hastily dragged the two forms, placed them inside, and quickly washed the blood smears, hastily spraying cleaning fluid over them. Apparently, the liquid was filled with nano machines that ate up the blood rather quickly, but, to Kaji, it looked kind of like Windex. Regardless, he left the fluid to do its work as he left the blood smears behind him, smears that slowly dissolved away and left no evidence of the murder.

He grinned a little on the inside as he acknowledged a job well done. For the moment.

Within this facility resided his target: a sixty-three year old man, a Statesman in the recently restored Hungary Republic. No, Kaji apologized, Hungary Dictatorship. The poor country had trouble resurfacing after Second Impact, and so a man by the name of Joseph Mandala rose to power, raising the country up from the ground. The man who ran Mandala from behind the scenes, an ordinary, inconspicuous statesman, was Kaji's target of the day: Valence Tepes. Anyone who would see the murder in the end, with no evidence of any sort of the assassin, what with all the cameras freeze framed on empty hallways and all the physical traces eaten away by state-of-the-art Nan machines, they'd suspect a political killing by a local rebel faction.

They'd be half right.

The dead bodies had been concealed in the surrounding closets and locations, and, naturally, the gunshot had been silenced in a rather curious way. Ordinary silencers wouldn't silence a gun to that gentle whistle that emerged from the gun at that moment. The silencer weakened the bullet dramatically, but, if it hit the back of the target's skull, then it would kill them in one blow quickly. He had to avoid the rest of the body parts. After all, a shot to the heart would still leave the victim alive, and there wasn't even a guarantee that the bullet would have the force to do much damage after slamming through the ribs. The brain, though, was a different matter.

Their heads didn't explode, per say, but they were dead after the lodged in bullet scrambled up their brains.

Kaji was surprised about how minimal the security was. Every so often he'd see a guard, but he was shot effortlessly with a single, hastily stealthy round. The nano machines ate the blood up, leaving no trace of a murder at all. Still, once someone checked those bodies up, they'd try to check for fingerprints. That was why he'd need to burn this building later, and what better way to burn the building than to detonate all the nano machines scurrying around? Once he left in his car and out of the mile range to control the nano machines, they'd explode on their own, with enough force to scatter everything to the winds.

The reason he needed his evidence cleaned up now?

So no one could call the police prematurely.

Or kill him.

Finally, he was in Valence's bedroom. The security, thankfully, fell with a single round. He had decided to lessen the silencer so now the sound of a pop filled the air, more audible than usual, but still pretty quiet. Lazily, he kicked down the unstable wooden door leading into the bedroom, aimed his pistol at the bed where the sleeping man lay, and fired every last round in his magazine into the man's skull.

He was dead in seconds.

Kaji, however, was not interested in his dead body. Sure, the assassination of a statesman was a pretty hefty crime, but a member of Seele dying was a bigger deal. However, the files within this room were a much, much bigger deal to someone seeking the truth. He estimated that only one individual was still living in this facility, that being Kaji himself. He had until 5 AM when people would start arriving, and, right now, it was midnight. He had five hours to gather all the data, bring it with him, and fly back to Sweden to maintain his alibi. Right now, a stand-in was convincing people he was still there, so he needed to get back before anyone grew savvy to his disappearance.

Ikari wanted info on Star Aran.

Kaji wanted info on everything.

Why not kill two birds with one stone?

#

"Alright, I want all of you to relax. We're just going to perform a few tests today."

The redhead in her plug suit lowered her head in frustration. Tests? Synch tests were one thing, and, after all, she had performed such exams numerous times, each one proving just how superior she was to the rest of her peers, save for the idiot Star who was currently resting in a bed in some hospital ward with a cast around his shattered limbs. Karma was such a sweet melody of retribution. In any case, synch tests were one thing, but this wasn't a synch test at all. "I don't see why measuring our hormones is gonna help with anything."

"We think that maybe hormonal levels might affect synchronization levels, seeing as how they can affect moods and mindset," Maya explained, gently, "It's very possible that the LCL is either positively or negatively affected by a change in hormones, so we just want to make sure this is not the case."

"Do we have to do this?" Bianca asked from the other machine, her voice a little anxious. What did she have to be anxious about? Her voice sounded heavy, as though she had just made a brief little jog up a flight of stairs. Nothing too significant, but Asuka did have to wonder what she was feeling? Was she really nervous? The poor girl, trembling over her own nerves, perhaps, or even just the fear of messing up.

Or perhaps that's what Asuka was feeling right now.

As she let herself dissolve into the LCL, allowed her mind to travel deep into the world of the experiment, she felt the sensors placed on her body, small round disks that had been applied underneath her plug suit before walking inside, vibrate gently. She winced, initially. What were they trying to do, exactly? Was this Maya's lesbian fantasy, to see children and an adult like Asuka brought down by tremors all over her body? She could feel the gentle flesh surrounding her middle tremble slightly, along with her thighs and arms. How intense was this trembling? However, slowly, she came to adjust to the vibrations by convincing herself they were like one of those electric massages that people loved getting.

An electric massage all over her body.

Why not?

A digital screen opened up before her, at which she opened her eyes, still synchronized perfectly as she looked into it. There were images of combat, images of the previous battle from the perspective of her Eva. Did the Evas have video cameras in their eyes or something? She didn't know that cameras were installed to this extent. Interesting news, to say the very least. She felt adrenaline pump through her veins as she watched herself kick ass, along with seeing Unit-04 throw its broadsword into the opposing Angel, ripping straight through its body.

A kick-ass sight for anyone.

After replaying the footage twice, the vibrating machines slowed down to a halt as Maya's voice rang through Asuka's ears. "Okay, the simulation is over, you can go, now."

#

"So what do we got?" Misato asked, a can of beer in her hands as she took a large swig.

Ritsuko sighed, running a hand over her eyes as she said, slowly, "It's incredible all around the board, to be honest. I had no idea, but synch ratios are slightly affected by bouts of adrenaline. Asuka's increased between five and seven points when the footage was playing, as did Shinji and Rei. Bianca's, though, that boosted about twenty percent!"

"Twenty percent?" Misato stammered, "That much? About four times as much as-what about her levels of hormones? Did we find anything out there?"

Maya sighed, slowly, before saying, in a strained tone, "We did, yes. Though it's sort of hard to-Ritsuko?"

"Fine, I'll say it," Ritsuko replied, "When the simulation first began, she was more nervous than the other people. We're assuming that's because she knew what was going to happen and was afraid of being found out. Now, as to what exactly happened was that, while she did feel a large amount of adrenaline pumping through her body, the data suggests that she also experienced a heightened level of sexual arousal upon seeing all the violence. Eventually, it lead her to orgasm. Twice."

"Twice? What does this mean, exactly?" Misato asked, slowly.

"We think that Bianca's a sadist," Ritsuko replied, slowly, "Judging by her levels of apprehension, I don't believe she's any threat to any of the other pilots or ourselves, and she probably subliminates her sexual desire for violence through the angels. This is all a theory, of course, and I'm a doctor, not a psychologist."

A sadist? Misato liked Bianca, she really did, but a sadist? She had someone inside her house who enjoyed, on a sexual level, watching things twisted apart, watching things bleed, watching death and violence, inside of her apartment this whole time, in a place filled with knives and guns. She began to tremble, though this trembling fit was quelled when Misato reminded herself of the rest of Ritsuko's statements. "So you don't think she's a threat?"

"I don't believe she is, no, but I've taken the liberty of contacting her old advisors. They'll be coming down to Japan on the same flight Kaji is taking."

"Oh, when's he coming back?" Misato asked, curiously.

"Oh, tomorrow night," Ritsuko replied, calmly.

"How do you know that?"

"Well, it's relevant to my job. He's securing data about Evangelion Units-05 and 06."

"There's more of these things coming?" sighed Misato, running a hand over her forehead, "How many Eva Units do we really need? An army of them? By the end of this we'll probably have more Evas than there are Angels themselves."

"Sometimes, it's better to over prepare than to under prepare, especially for the Angels," replied Ritsuko, "However, the problems all stem from Unit-03. It shouldn't have been made, at least not with Star. That's why Kaji is there, too. The other Units will still finish production, yes, but the UN is not pleased by Star's selection as a pilot, or that's what Commander Ikari says."

"Something about this whole set-up just bugs me. Call it just nerves, but I really don't like this," Misato replied, frowning.

#

"Toji, sit down."

The stooge lowered his bum down on the chair, leaning his face in his open palms as Hikari glanced down at him, sighing. The guy was cute, yes, but she had to suppress her own butterflies flapping their gentle wings across the inside of her belly. She was the class rep, and as one she needed to put her duties as an elected official before her jittery want for the boy, which was why she needed to ignore the desire to keep him from working, and give him cleaning duty for the rest of the week.

"Look, Hikari, I really don't get why I have to do it," Toji replied, sighing.

"You were caught writing on the bathroom walls that Star Aran was a jack-ass, and while I personally agree, despite being a cute jack-ass, you still need to be punished somehow, right?"

"Why can't you get someone else to do it? I have-"

"Sorry, rules are made a certain way. I just enforce them," Hikari replied, shrugging, "I can't just make an exception for you, ya know."

"Why not?"

"Look, I do feel bad for you, seeing as how I would've done it myself if I wasn't rep and all that, but ya just gotta," Hikari said, her face sagging slightly, "Look, if you do, I'll give you lunch one day."

Toji's face lit up. "Wow, are you serious?"

"Well, look, you should just be doing this because it's school rules and all, and I'm not making for you, really. It's more that I cook a little too much food lately, and I can't eat it all, unless you wanna see me blow up like a blimp. Can't just keep it all in the fridge because it'll go bad eventually, and, well, you're a bottomless pit, so you'll have to do." Hikari's cheeks were filled with scarlet flush as her knees began to tremble beneath the ruffles of her skirt, "So are ya gonna clean everything or not?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Toji replied, "Where's the sponge?"

After Hikari set Toji in motion, she left the classroom, the bell having signaled the end of the day. That boy was so cute, what with his broad shoulders and sweet face. She interlocked her fingers below her hips, swaying them back and forth as she walked, smiling bashfully. She was so distracted she nearly walked headlong into Rei, who was staring at the wall, reading something. "Oh, I'm sorry!" she stammered, examining Rei's arm, which had recently been taken out of a cast after a remarkably quick recovery. She was still in a sling, though.

"It's alright," Rei replied, softly, "I was just reading about this 'Ramen Night.'"

"You mean the charity with the-oh, that's tonight, too. Are you interested in making a donation?" Hikari asked, smiling.

"No, not particularly," Rei replied, "I just didn't know what it was."

"Oh, okay," Hikari replied, shrugging. There was something about Ayanami that made her so difficult to approach, to talk to. She wondered just what it was about her, but she was, on the whole, a rather enigmatic girl. She couldn't read her one way or the other. A complete stranger to her in every sense of the word, and even stranger was the fact that Hikari, as of now, had not considered, even briefly, that Rei had a personality at all, beyond staring blankly out the window for hours on end, like a dreamer without sleep.

Rei glanced over at Hikari, her eyes apparently devoid of any emotion at all. "Class rep, would it be alright if I asked you a question?" Her voice was so still, so flat, and yet there was apprehension there, be it ever so slight.

"Sure, ask away."

"What is Pilot Sohryu's relationship with Shinji?"

Hikari's cheeks filled with even more blush than before. Asuka's relationship with Shinji? Well, that was a fairly easy one to answer if anyone had seen their arguments: she must hate the ground Shinji walked on. However, Hikari knew Asuka much better than the common people. Though jokes were thrown around about how they secretly liked each other, Hikari knew that wasn't true. No, Asuka didn't like Shinji; she loved him. She couldn't admit it to herself even, but she did. There was attraction there in every sense of the word, be it physical, emotional, mental, spiritual, whatever. If there was some kind of attraction in existence, Asuka felt it for Shinji.

But how to put it into words to Rei?

"Well, you see, Rei, Asuka is, well, what do you think?"

Rei seemed slightly taken aback at this, though not in an offended way. It seemed more like no one had actually asked her what she thought of a situation, and this question being thrown at her put her on the spot. She averted her gaze for a moment before saying, in that same vacant tone of hers, "She wants to hurt him."

"Why do you say that?"

"Pilot Sohryu constantly insults and berates Shinji. She's bullying him, is she not?"

Hikari sighed, running a hand through her bangs. "Ah, how do I explain this exactly? She's mean to him because, well, she really likes him."

"Is it natural for people who like someone to display aggression?" Rei asked, her voice betraying a hint of confusion.

"Well, not really, but in some people it is," Hikari asked.

"How can you tell Pilot Sohryu is one of those people?"

"You just can. The way she looks at him when he isn't looking, or even when he is. There's something chemical going on there. I don't know how to articulate it better than that. I mean, I don't suppose you've been in love before, right? It's a pretty strange emotion, ya know?"

Hikari watched as Rei stared blankly at her, no apparent outward response. What an odd girl. Didn't she know how to respond emotionally? Maybe there was some merit in what Asuka had insisted numerous times, over and over again: Rei Ayanami was just a blank, empty doll. However, Hikari began doubting her own statement once Rei began to speak, her voice slow, maybe even melancholy, as she averted her gaze. "Can you promise to keep a secret?"

"Uh, sure," Hikari replied, blushing deep red, leaning closer.

For a moment, Rei was silent. The words seemed to dawdle on the tip of her tongue, refusing to leave her mouth. Finally, though, her voice, soft, whispery, and velvety, spoke six words that left Hikari's eyes wide with shock. "Pilot Ikari is a very handsome boy."

#

"Oh, for the love of-how come this flight's delayed?" Kaji asked, pouting slightly, "This is supposed to be a first class trip to Japan. A luxury plane. I didn't think there'd be too many factors to take into account, here."

"I'm sorry, sir, but we have direct orders from above. There will be a half hour delay, so you don't need to worry too much."

Kaji sighed, running a hand through his hair. Planes. What was the big deal about them, anyway? After airport security bombarded you with a plethora of ridiculous questions you'd only be asked the next time you boarded them, you'd wait for hours on end in a seat until you arrived in your destination, all the while being treated to food that even a man born without taste buds would shake his head at. He preferred the military ships, even if they were both slower and smellier.

"Damn, another delay."

Kaji glanced over his shoulder at the sound of this. A sandy haired man, probably slightly younger than him, stomped his foot in frustration as he stared up at the board. He was dressed in a sports jacket, his buttoned down shirt pulled down into his trousers as his girlfriend stood next to him. She had long, flowing blue locks of hair. Kaji wondered if she was in any way a distant relative of Rei. Now, that girl was quite a hottie, with an angelic face, perfect figure, graceful and delicate. And, oddly enough, they were both Japanese. Tourists, perhaps?

"Your flight delayed too?" Kaji chuckled, glancing back, "Stinks, doesn't it?"

"Yeah, I know. I'd probably get to Japan faster in my car than this," the man mumbled, his voice, while gruff, surprisingly high for a man. Maybe his voice was a little like Shinji's: soft for a man.

"This isn't so bad, I suppose," sighed the blue haired girl, shaking her head, "I mean, it could be worse."

"Yes, that much is true," the sandy-haried man replied, running his fingers through his slightly long locks of hair, "Damn flight could be canceled. That would suck."

"Yes, well, which plane are you boarding?" the blue haired woman asked, nestling her cheek against her lover's shoulder.

"Well, I'm boarding a private jet going to Japan. I believe it's that flight over there," Kaji replied, pointing toward one of the names in the middle. The boy held back an amused laugh at this. Was there something wrong with that particular plane he knew about and wasn't telling Kaji? He had been informed that the plane was in pristine condition, so what could it be that would make this guy laugh at such an unfunny, mundane thing as the identity of the plane he was traveling? "What's wrong?"

"It's nothing, just that that's the same plane we're taking," the boy replied, smirking.

"Oh?" Kaji laughed, "I didn't realize anyone else was taking that plane."

"You're Ryouji Kaji, then?" the blue haired girl asked.

Kaji's eyes widened, but then narrowed. Were these agents sent by Seele? Commander Ikari informed Kaji no one suspected him, nor did they have any reason to. The entire event had been pinned on a local gang, and there was no evidence to pin anything on Nerv. So was the Commander lying? Placing his hands under his jacket, his fingers curling around the butt end of his 9mm, he asked, smirking, "That I am. Not to be rude, but how exactly do you know my name?"

"A Dr. Ritsuko Akagi sent for us," the blue haired girl replied, "We're Bianca's supervisors from Italy."

"Oh?" Kaji asked, still holding onto his gun for safety, if needed. He didn't want to make a big ordeal. These people might not be lying, but he'd rather be safe than sorry, especially on the plane. Perhaps the flight was being delayed to make it easier to take his life away. Smiling regardless, Kaji continued in his laid-back fashion. "Well, alright then. Why'd she need you?"

"She has some questions she'd like to discuss in person," the boy replied, shrugging, "Go figure. Anyway, my name's Haruka, Haruka Tenoh, and this is Michiru Kaioh."

"Alright then," Kaji replied, smirking, "Nice to be introduced. I was actually the supervisor of the Second Child for a good deal of time, and I still unofficially am."

"I hear she's quite a hothead," Haruka replied, smirking, "But quite a fighter."

"Oh, she is. More than you can realize," laughed Kaji.

"Well, I hope you remember, Haruka, she is only fourteen years old," Michiru chuckled, "I don't think you're into younger girls, are you?"

"I'm not."

"She's thirteen, actually," Kaji replied.

"Oh, right, sorry. Even worse for you, Haruka," Michiru replied wrapping her one arm around her man's shoulders as she ran a hand up his chest, and squeezed his breast-

Wait, what?

"I'm sorry, but Mr. Tenoh, it would appear you have breasts," Kaji stammered, staring confused at the man before him.

Haruka glanced just as confused back at him as Michiru broke out into laughter, stuffing a knuckle into her mouth to avoid laughing. "Mr. Tenoh? Oh, I get it, just because I'm dressed like a guy. That was supposed to fool other women, not other men."

"Huh?"

"Haruka, it looks like you fooled the wrong target," Michiru replied, smiling.

"I apologize. These things happen," Haruka replied.

"Are you a woman?"

Haruka laughs at this, hands on his-no, her-hips. "Well, it took you long enough to figure that one out."

"This is going to be a long plane ride, isn't it?" Kaji mumbled.

#

"She said what!"

Asuka felt her heart pumping in her throat, her wrists, her stomach, but most of all her chest. It beat with the force of a thousand atomic warheads slamming into one another, rang like a gong in a room filled with gong-ers gong-ing! Her fingers twitched anxiously as she felt the urge to squeeze something, just so she could concentrate this tension surging throughout her body into another vessel, somehow, in some form!

"Look, don't kill the messenger-girl!" Hikari stammered, staring bashfully into both Asuka and Bianca's eyes, "And I promised not to tell anyone, so you can't just tell Rei I told you this, alright?"

"Tell her? Oh, rest assured I'm not JUST gonna tell her I know tomorrow, I'm gonna deck her across the face!" snapped Asuka, face as scarlet as her locks of hair. Why was she getting all worked up over this, anyway? It wasn't like she liked the dork. Not really, anyway. He just had interesting looking fingers. Fingers attached to hands, attached to a delicate wrist, up arms that gave her tremors, into those puny shoulders, a pathetic neck, and that face, that boyish, stupid looking, naïve, somewhat adorable, kinda cute, angular, heart shaped-

"I think it's kinda cute," Bianca replied with a shrug, "I mean, seriously, she IS a teenage girl, despite the fact she acts like a doll half the time."

"Thank you! Someone else is creeped out by that girl aside from me," Asuka declared, her face glowing much like Hikari's, though for a very different reason. She jumped on this topic, any topic, just so long as she could get that idiot out of her head.

"I didn't say I was creeped out by her," Bianca said, smirking, "I just said she was weird. Big difference."

"Oh, well-I'm not scared of her!"

"Never said you were."

"It's just she's a doll, a pathetic doll!"

"You really don't like dolls, do you?" Bianca asked, smirking her bemused grin.

"Will you shut up about dolls?"

"Look, guys, let's not kid ourselves here, we know why you don't like Rei," Hikari intervened, frowning slightly as she placed a knuckle under her lips, "Asuka loves Shinji, and-"

"Wait, hold on! Who ever said anything about that!" Asuka stammered.

"Oh, you did. You scream it. Really, you could work harder to hide it, but, oh well," Hikari replied with a shrug.

"Look, just because I'm-I-er-"

"Look, maybe we should spend less time debating if you like him, and start figuring out what we're gonna do about Rei liking your man," Bianca replied.

"He's not my man!"

"Bianca's right. We should probably start figuring out if Rei is feeling just ordinary puppy love or if it's something more, ya know?"

"I don't care if she likes him! Really, I don't!"

"Hikari, she seems to trust you a bit. Maybe you can try, I dunno, tricking her to open up a little more," Bianca said, smiling slyly.

"I don't want the doll to open up! Let's just drop this whole discussion!"

"But I feel guilty enough as it is just saying what I have already," Hikari replied, averting her gaze as she blushed deep red.

"Are you guys listening to anything I'm saying!"

"I know, but think of it this way: if you open up, we'll get a better idea about what we're dealing with, and, well, maybe we'd finally figure out what makes Rei tick."

"Fine! Do whatever you want! But I do not like Shinji!"

#

"Shinji, did you like Pilot Aran?"

"Uh, he was friendly to me," Shinji replied, unsure just how to answer such a direct answer. How did one respond to something like that:? How could he face this old man, Mr. Ondorf, and his own father, with Commander Fuyutsuki standing in the background, shaking his head at the entire procedure, and say that he felt Star Aran received a fate he deserved, deserved to be pummeled by Asuka. How did he confess how he had smiled on the inside upon seeing Star's arm snap under his weight? It was a marvelous sight, in Shinji's honest opinion.

Still, he couldn't just say that, could he?

"I see," Mr. Ondorf replied, hands folded before him, "And what is your relationships with the other pilots? Pilot Ayanami, Sohryu, and Desdemona?"

Shinji weighed each question in his head as he glanced into those icy cold eyes. He felt his father's eyes were intimidating, but Mr. Ondorf trumped even him. If anything, Shinji felt comforted looking into his father's apathetic gaze, because at least he didn't frighten Shinji quite the same way that old, frail evangelist did. "They're all nice."

"I understand, thank you, Shinji, that'll conclude today's-" his father said, rising up to his feet, only to stop as Mr. Ondorf cleared his throat. Commander Ikari's neck stiffened, his jaw locking slightly, as he glanced down at the old man below. "Do you have another question that deviates from standard protocol, Mr. Ondorf?"

"I do, actually. Shinji, do you know why I am holding this interrogation with you?"

Shinji sighed, slowly. "Father said it was about the incident involving Star at school, but I don't know why you're holding this whole meeting this long after the event happened. It doesn't make sense to me, sir."

"Ah, but that's because it isn't about that necessarily. What I am doing is simply collecting information, specifically on Pilot Sohryu-"

"Pilot Sohryu's status is irrelevant to Star's," Gendo said, flatly, "Shinji, you can leave."

"No, Shinji, stay where you are," Mr. Ondorf said in a voice that made Shinji's blood freeze in his veins, "Stay until you answer this one question: what is your relationship with Pilot Sohryu?"

"My relationship with her?" Shinji asked, feeling the words dance on his tongue. Truthfully, he wasn't sure what his relationship with her was. She constantly berated him, humiliated him, embarrassed him, and yet there was a part of him, a part that was probably extremely foolish, that looked past that. He remembered when Asuka opened up to him the night before Star was pummeled, the night he learned just why she was the way she was. He could imagine young Asuka uncovering the dolls hanging from the rafters of the house, staring blankly at them, her voice contorted by the joy that preceded the incident, and the horror upon discovering the sight. A maelstrom of emotion.

"Shinji, if you don't want to answer the question, you are not required to," his father said, oddly concerned. What? He suddenly cared about what Shinji wanted all of a sudden? Had he cared at all before this, maybe he wouldn't have dragged him into this whole ordeal, would he? If Gendo Ikari cared for Shinji at all, why was he here right now, in this damn war? There were other pilots, four others, all more willing to fight than he was. What did it matter if he was here at all?

Smiling into Gendo's face, Shinji replied, "No, it's not a problem. I'd be happy to answer the question."

"Your answer, Mr. Ikari?"

"Oh, Asuka and I, well, we're just friends. That's all."


	10. Chapter 10

**Part 10**

"So why do ya need to strip us naked, exactly?" Bianca queried, her fleshy form concealed behind curtains from Shinji's eyes. It wasn't like he'd try to catch a peak at her nude appearance anyway, but the simple fact of the matter was that she was, indeed, naked. His ears picked up on the whistling air flowing between her legs, her breasts, her limbs. It almost sounded as though angels were blowing through their little flutes, only the instruments were fleshier, more organic and filled with bodily fluids.

"This is just a test to see how your synchronization rates change without your plug suits on," Dr. Akagi said, her voice echoing into their ears through numerous loud speakers.

"Okay, I got that, but why the hell are we butt-stinking naked!" the German girl said, Shinji's view of her, unfortunately, out of Shinji's sight. His mind could see through the curtains and walls, see straight at her svelte form, scale up her slender calves that sprouted out from tight, pert thighs. He could visualize her toned belly, no, not toned, flat. All Asuka did was sit around the house and nibble on potato chips. She didn't work out, though Shinji always saw her as a behemoth of power. It was odd how nothing about her body was necessarily physically imposing. It was all her mind, all her passionate, flaming heart.

Shinji never saw the other pilot's forms. Just their shadows against the wall and ceiling. Ever slowly, he progressed down the claustrophobic hallway, down toward the entrance to the entry plug. He tossed his body into the seat, relaxing into the soft, comforting throne of power. He felt his mind ease gently into the LCL that surrounded him, letting it soak into his pores. He felt his mind drift away from worldly matters, away from terrestrial concerns, away from material surroundings.

Just friends?

His breathing slowed down to a crawl as the LCL oxygenated his blood directly. There was no need to collect air now. It was beautiful how simple the process of living was when you were surrounded by life fluid, the primordial soup of life.

That's all we are.

"This feels weird." Shinji heard from another plug, only for Ritsuko's voice to echo throughout their chambers, ordering Asuka to hold her tongue. He imagined what she looked like naked, her strands of hair drifting in the liquid as the seconds passed, her nude form caressed by the liquid, thicker than water, but thinner than blood. It was a beautiful, gentle-

"Shinji! Focus on your synch ratio!"

"Right! Sorry, Ritsuko!"

#

"It's right this way, ladies," Kaji declared, glancing over his shoulder to examine the two beautiful women at his rear. Due to numerous delays at the station, it took them a tad longer than expected to arrive in Japan. However, if Kaji wasn't very much mistaken, the delays weren't just due to the airport having trouble. There were only so many times something could go wrong with a highly maintained vehicle of astounding caliber. Gendo arrived in Japan a full half a day before him, so why was it that he, Kaji, and two other NERV employees were delayed so frequently?

Seele had a hand in this.

He knew it.

"This is my place of zen, right here," Haruka mumbled, examining the austere machinery surrounding them as they stood on one of the conveyer belt bridges.

"Figured you'd say that. Could use a few more flowers," Michiru said, smirking.

"More flowers? That'd throw off the beautiful clanging clanking gears's melody," Haruka laughed.

"Melody? If you want melody, listen to my violin sometime."

"Yeah, I do."

"You play violin?" Kaji butted in, glancing over, "Hey, Asuka played violin. Perhaps you can get her to pick up the habit again."

"Oh, are you asking if I could tutor your ward?" Michiru asked, smirking.

"Yeah, maybe."

"I might give it a shot," Michiru said, with a pleasant smile.

"Does your girl like running?" Haruka asked, smirking.

"Uh, no, not particularly."

"Fast cars?"

"Don't believe so."

"Sex?"

"My area of expertise."

"Fair enough."

#

"It would appear that you were right, Dr. Akagi," Maya said, frowning, "No clothing does reduce the level of synchronization the pilots have."

"Can we just end this experiment now?" Aoba said, glancing at one of the monitors, specifically averting his gaze from Bianca's monitor, "I'm getting a little grossed out looking at that gut."

"That's a little mean," Misato mumbled, irritated.

"Have you seen that blubber ball?" Aoba laughed, "All I need is a knife, just to cut off all that flub. Probably wouldn't even hurt her. Her nerve endings probably don't reach as far as that gut of hers."

"Aoba, the pilot's physical concern isn't your priority," Ritsuko sighed, running a hand up her forehead. Honestly, the girl could afford to lose a few pounds, and she couldn't deny she felt slight distaste toward the girl. After all, she was a sadist. She derived sexual pleasure from watching others suffer. It was unprofessional for her to regard her pilot as anything short of a useful utensil, not to favor one over the other. She also knew, from a psychological standpoint, that, despite being sadistic, Bianca wasn't a sociopath. She didn't have that lack of concern for others.

Not like Ritsuko.

Still, she had to wait for Bianca's moral guardians to come to make a final deduction.

That might not sponge away the distaste.

"Finish the exam. I have everything we need," Ritsuko said, "Eject the pilots." A few seconds of typing passed, slowly at first, but soon it expanded, dragged out, never ending. Ritsuko glanced at the bunnies on the bridge, her eyebrows raised in confusion. "What's keeping you? I said eject the pilots."

"Ritsuko," Maya stammered, typing more frantically than before, "It's not responding! The entry plugs aren't responding!"

"We're being closed off!" Hyuuga stammered, "Dr. Akagi, your orders?"

Ritsuko took a second to appreciate her seat of control. Since Misato was taking a sick day, which Ritsuko assumed was taken to tend to her overwhelming hang over, the doctor was now in complete control. Still, this was a problem she had to deal with. She took a few steps forward, lips pulled tightly as she said, her voice betraying her inner confusion, "Maya, I want you use the emergency exit codes."

Maya's fingers pushed down on the keys, in alternating patterns, but, alas, all it created was a loud, echoing howl in the air that sent shivers up Ritsuko's spine. That siren was the sound of an Angel. Their pilots were stuck in their entry plugs, and the newest angel chose now to strike. Clearly the events correlated in some way. But how?

"The angel is in the mainframe!" Hyuuga cried out.

"What do you mean it's IN the mainframe?" Ritsuko stammered, her eyes widening in horror.

"I mean it's literally inside of the system, hacking into all our files!" Hyuuga stammered.

Ritsuko felt her body tremble in one sudden tremor. Hacking into the data? An angel composed of digital binaries? No, it had to be organic. Had to have a physical form in some way. If this creature was composed of digital code, there was surely a way to delete this bastard quickly. Everything depended on the contents in the depths of Nerv headquarters to remain untouched by the angelic hands of those monsters. "Alright, the pilot's lives are our second highest priority. We need the angel to stay out of Terminal Dogma. Get on it!"

#

The excalator froze sharply. Kaji stumbled forward, catching himself on the railing. Haruka had the grace to remain erect, and, had it not been for her quick reactions, Michiru would've fallen flat on her face as well. She smiled up at her partner before words returned to Kaji's mouth, words that were surprised, confused, dare he even say it anxious.

"What just happened?"

"The electronics must be messed up or something," Haruka mumbled, "Only thing I can think of."

#

"The Angel's powering down out systems!" Maya shrieked, glancing over her shoulder at Ritsuko, her eyes wide with terror, "It's blocking us out!"

"The Angel must be located by one of our power cores, or at least has access to the power lines. We need to isolate it somewhere before we're completely blocked out," Ritsuko stammered, anxiously.

A few moments of silence passed, all the while Ritsuko trembled to herself, her fingers tightening on her arms, digging into the fabric of her lab coat. If she messed this up, they were all going to die. There'd be ho hope for them, not even the semblance of salvation. She trembled from head to toe as the seconds passed, the sounds of hundred of keys being pushed at once. Finally, Hyuuga spoke. "We've located the angel!"

"Where is it?" Ritsuko stammered.

"My God," Hyuuga shrieked, "It's hacking into our defense systems!"

#

The sounds of metal clinking and clanging around them alerted Kaji to the world around him. He felt fear enter his heart, his blood rushing throughout his body. What was going on here? Why did the entire center just freeze up on them? Had something happened to the power? No, it was more than that. Something was certainly moving. He had just left a murder scene, leaving the corpse of a Seele executive. Surely, that was what this was about.

Justice was coming for him.

No, this couldn't be justice.

This was cruel vengeance.

Kaji withdrew his pistol, holding it out before him, pointing it in all directions. Haruka glanced over at him, cocking her eyebrows in confusion. "Surely you don't think we'll actually need-"

The sounds of bullets obstructed her words as the trio ducked down. The rounds soared over their heads, the rails buckling and tearing to shreds as the spiraling projectiles slashed across the surface of the electronic stairs. They were firing at him. He glanced over at his surroundings, machinery piloting firearms at his head, aiming bullets directly at their skulls and bodies.

"Oh, fuck this shit!" Haruka snapped, reaching into her suit, withdrawing two pistols she held out before her. If Kaji wasn't very much mistaken, those pistols she held like squirt guns in front of her, pistols she fired out into the air, had more force each than the traditional 10-guage shot gun. Their destructive potential became apparent when the projectiles launched straight into their targets, ripping the machines apart, their bullets spraying out in all directions. Bullets collided in mid air, sparks flying. The other guns on the walls became riddled with holes as Haruka fired shell after shell into the defense systems, leaving little left of them in a few seconds.

"Was THAT your defense system?" Haruka laughed, resting the barrels of her guns on her shoulders, a smirk crawling on her face.

"I guess so," laughed Kaji, remembering how much he loved breathing after a quick brush with death.

"That can't be your idea of a welcome, can it?" laughed Michiru, rising to her feet as she withdrew firearms from her coat.

"Well, it isn't," Kaji said, frowning, "I don't think that Nerv would give us this sort of welcoming. This is probably something Seele cooked up."

"Yeah, I figured that," Haruka chuckled, "The delays on the flight? Seemed a little suspicious."

"So you're not on Seele's favorable side either?"

"What did you do to piss them off?" Michiru asked.

"I killed one of their fold. You?"

"We made Bianca the pilot of Unit-04," Haruka replied, "They didn't want her to even be considered for the position, but we fought for her. Less talking, though. We may need to do some more shooting."

#

"Isolate that angel! Cut it off from the rest of the security systems!" Ritsuko stammered, "No, wait, channel it's data flow into one of the security robots."

"Security robots?" Maya queried, confused, "Since when did we have those?"

"Since it became convenient," Ritsuko spat, recalling how frustrating it was when Ondorf suggested to them, no, commanded that they added in a security system. Nerv wasn't supposed to defend against human targets, and bullets seemed to have little to no effect on the Angels. Now, however, the defense systems were a key instrument to aiding them in the destruction of the angel. "I want you to channel the entire angel's being into one of the security bots, and then command the other bots to shoot it to ribbons. Alright?"

"Got ya!" Aoba chuckled, hastily typing away.

#

Bullets soared through the air like carrier pigeons in a hurricane. Haruka and Michiru were hidden behind columns of powerful steel, the bullets bouncing off its surface rather violently. The walls buckled and dented under its great force. Kaji, however, was pinned behind a column, and, with each successive shot, another fragment soared off of its reflective surface, the material not strong enough to supply more than temporary reprieve from death's grasp.

Another bullet rocketed out from Haruka's gun, firing a droid stuck to the wall that would've blown Kaji's head off. The machine was torn asunder, gears bouncing off the wall in devastated fragments. The man smiled, grateful he wasn't in this alone. He aimed his gun, and fired at another gun, knocking it from the droid's fingers. Now, there were but a few defense mechanisms in this chamber, but there was enough fire to keep them pinned down for some time. And there were chambers elsewhere that probably were firing bullets at defenseless members of Nerv from all sides. He wondered how many had been riddled with bullets already.

Or perhaps they were the only ones being targeted.

#

"The machines are being focused on individually and specifically in specific chambers. Our security cameras cannot detect anything, but we know they are targeting a specific group of individuals. We pray they make it," Hyuuga stammered, "If they don't, the Angel may lose interest in that area, and may migrate elsewhere."

"Alright, Ritsuko, tell me when you want the Angel stuck in there," Aoba said, smiling as he glanced over at his superior.

"What? You mean you haven't done it yet?" Ritsuko stammered, "Are you stupid! Ya should've done it the moment you suggested it!"

"Right," Aoba chuckled.

#

Michiru's gun blew away the head of another drone, leaving it defenseless against a second round. There were two machines left in this room, and then Kaji would be free to advance. What if Misato was caught in the crossfire? What if she were in danger? No, he mustn't think of that, mustn't think of the worst. He had to focus on living, on kicking Seele's ass now. Whatever, or worse yet whoever, was attacking them couldn't be invincible. Clearly Kaji would survive.

He had to learn the truth.

The two drones froze for a second. Kaji took a second to draw breath before bullets rung through the air. The two drones had turned on one another, firing bullets against their kin. One was faster than the other, alas, as one was left riddled with holes after a few moments of open fire. The other, however, was not unharmed. The blasts fired against the wall it was attached to, and, after several dozen rounds of blankly fired rounds, the attacking drone's head blown clean off, the target fell off the wall, slamming with a loud rattle against the floor. For a moment, it remained still, before firing rounds straight at the column.

How the hell was that thing still firing if it wasn't attached to its power source?

#

"The target has been removed from the circuitry, ma'am!" Hyuuga laughed, cheerfully.

"Cameras back on!" Maya cheered.

Ritsuko stared at the monitors as a horrible sight came before her eyes. Kaji was stuck, pinned down under rapid fire like a bug under a glass jar. Her eyes widened with fear as the bullets rang dangerously close to his skull, too close. His defense, a damaged column, wouldn't last much longer. A bullet cleared straight through the stone, soaring just over his shoulder. Another shattered the middle of the column, a good distance above the crown of Kaji's skull.

#

Kaji's pulse quickened as the seconds passed. Bullet shells waltzed across the floor as the drone dragged itself forward, its mechanical hands piercing the tiles of the floor to pull it forward, inch by inch, slowly having a better aim on its target. A strand of hair fell to the ground as a stray bullet drew far too close for comfort. Another inch, and Kaji's temple would've been ripped open by a stray, flaming hot bullet. He couldn't dare move, or else risk having a limb, or worse yet organ, blown away. He couldn't stay where he was, unless he had a death wish. He was, for all intents and purposes, trapped like a rat!

A bullet rang through the air, louder than any other. The gun in the drone's hands were blown apart as Haruka Tenoh rose to her feet, aiming her pistols straight at the drone's skull as she loaded them both full of bullets. A grin on her lips, blood from her cut forehead oozing slowly over her gloriously furious eyes, she said, cold and softly, "Fuck off, you bitch."

Sixteen bullets later, all that remained of the drone was fragmented scrap metal.

#

"The Angel has been wiped out," Hyuuga stammered, "Killed by a human being. Without an AT Field."

"The AT Field probably manifested in the form of its digital body. It didn't function like other Angels," Ritsuko sighed, running a hand up her forehead yet again, "Maya?"

"Yes, Dr. Akagi?"

"Eject the pilots, please."

#

"Haruka! Michiru!"

That was the first thing that Asuka heard Bianca shout after leaving the entry plug. After hearing odd, incoherent sounds from outside of her entry plug, sounds muffled due to layers of soundproof material yet still somehow audible, Asuka had been afraid. However, the moment she was released from her metallic chamber, she realized she had little to fear. No one was dead, though Kaji, who she could see at the end of her ramp, was a little sweaty.

She still hugged him.

Only to realize everyone could see her bare skin.

Bianca had a similar reaction after hugging a pair of Japanese women, both of whom regarded the girl with a broad smile, a laugh on their lips, but soon drew attention to Bianca's naked form. "Look, Bianca," the tall blonde said, smiling a strained, perhaps even pained, chuckle as the chubbette squeezed her, "I love the feeling of your breasts rubbing up against me too, but maybe you should put some clothing on, first." Upon being reminded of her nudity, the round faced pilot hid her womanhood behind her arms and pudgy fingers.

She didn't hide much.

"Ah! Kaji!" Shinji stammered, hastily wrapping a towel around his genitalia. Asuka followed suit, noticing towels had been supplied for them alongside the makeshift walls they had traveled between to reach their respective entry plugs. Having concealed her womanhood, Asuka noticed that Rei was standing out in the middle of the room, lacking the common decency to just put something on to hide her breasts! Was that slut trying to appeal to Shinji's stupid hormones by showing to the world that she did, indeed, have a pair of breasts? That bitch!

As though Asuka couldn't tell she had boobs.

She even caught Shinji glancing at Rei's breasts.

Somehow, Asuka wished he was looking at her own.

"Quite a story about how we got here, too," Kaji chuckled, "Quite a welcoming, if I do say so myself."

"We heard weird sounds. What was that?" Bianca said, having hidden herself as best she could behind her towels. For better or worse, it was a tight squeeze, and her breasts were pushed up against one another, forming a distinct line of cleavage. Asuka noticed that blonde haired woman unabashedly taking peeks at her breasts. That was mildly more uncomfortable than her paranoia of Maya catching glimpses of her naked just then and there.

"The newest angel appeared," Ritsuko explained through loud speakers, "It took the form of digitized data, and attacked. I'm sorry we couldn't go into more detail."

#

"You can't exactly conceal this from Seele now," Fuyutsuki sighed, running a hand through his hair.

Gendo's hands were tightly pressed together, his fingers clamping one another as he locked his own jaw. He knew Ondorf knew when the angel was going to strike and how he was going to do it. That's probably why he installed the security drones, to ensure that Seele knew that the Angel attacked. If Gendo denied it now, denied that the newest angel had appeared to attempt a total take-over of Nerv and, eventually, reach Lilith, then the obvious result would've been that the old men saw through Gendo's deceit and found reason to kick him out of his position. Now Gendo would have to tell Seele what happened, which threw off his own scenario.

It depended on Seele not knowing the precise number of the angels to have appeared at this point.

Now he had to change the plot.

"Ondorf is playing on all the fields, Commander," Fuyutsuki said, through tight lips, "I'm afraid he's a bigger threat than I anticipated. Chairman Keel sure knows who to give the tough jobs to."

"Ondorf isn't just Keel's puppet," Gendo said, tensely, "No, there's more to this than just that. He wants something."

"What do you mean, exactly?" Fuyutsuki asked.

"Isn't it obvious, Fuyutsuki?" Gendo queried, "Keel wants the Angels dead, and he wants them dead a certain way. However, I have data that shows that it was Ondorf himself who manipulated the airlines to keep Kaji from returning home until this precise moment, the moment the new angel was going to attack. Don't you find it a bit odd how he knew the exact moment the angel would attack and not merely the general time period like we do thanks to our interpretation of the Dead Sea Scrolls?"

"I find it a bit odd, yeah," Fuyutsuki said, frowning, "But what're you saying? That Ondorf planned on trying to kill Kaji and the other two Nerv members with him?"

"Precisely," Gendo said, "But he had no way of knowing what Kaji just did. All he knows about Kaji is that he works for Nerv, was with me on a trip, AND is the Second Child's supervisor."

"What are you implying with that last one?" Fuyutsuki asked, his voice slow and cautious.

"I'm implying nothing. I'm only speculating. There is no evidence to show he'd kill Kaji because he was connected to Asuka, none except the fact that he continues to bring her up in interrogations, like with my son."

"I figured that was odd of him, but I guess it's just because Asuka-well, let's not kid ourselves-she has a way of making herself stand out."

"Really? I thought she was awfully unremarkable," Gendo replied, honestly, "Anyway, the point of the matter is that Ondorf wanted to kill Kaji, and his only motivation I can determine is that he is connected to Asuka."

"But that's not a motivation. That's a connection."

"But what if Ondorf wanted to possess the Second Child for his own? What if we made it impossible for him to possess her?"

"Well, what if we did?"

"I don't know. It might be a venture worth taking."

"You're going out on a guess. Do you want Kaji to investigate the matter?"

"No, I want him killing the members of Seele, one by one. The sooner the old men are dead, the sooner my plans can come to be," Gendo sighed, glancing at his desk. He claimed to have burned all her photographs, but, alas, within the confines of one of his drawers, remained a single photograph, a single picture of the woman named Yui Ikari. Her angelic face was now hidden under layers of dust, but the all-consuming desire to lay his eyes on her face, the overwhelming desire to feel her fingers probe his flesh, that was his sole drive.

That was all he wanted.

Ondorf was in his way.

He had to be eliminated.

#

"Maybe you can finally shed some light on this whole dilemma," Ritsuko said, folding her arms over her chest as she stared back at Michiru and Haruka. At her side was Misato, who had to be dragged out of her bed, her eyes still slightly out of focus as she sipped on her coffee. Caffeine wasn't going to do much to aid her hangover, but, even years after she first told Misato something they taught most people in school, she still tried this idiotic remedy of drunkenness.

"So, I take it you realized our little Bianca has a few-how to put it-odd interests?" Michiru asked, smiling sadly.

"Let's just cut to the chase: is Bianca's sadism dangerous?" Misato asked, her voice heavy, but not slurred. She was physically impaired, but her heart refused to be swayed. Ritsuko had to admire that about her friend: that die hard nature. Sometimes she wished she had that sort of drive in her, the drive to make a point even if she physically wasn't up to the task at hand. Still, for her, she'd always remember her limitations, and would psych herself out of doing whatever it was she wanted to do. That was the weakness with being a doctor: she knew her limits all too well.

"No, she isn't going to attack you in the night if that's what you're worried about," Michiru replied, "However, if you're concerned about her psychological well-being, yes, it is a danger."

"Bianca isn't a sadist out of choice or environmental trauma, though she has had a pretty rocky past," Haruka replied, frowning, "The simple fact is that she has a strange chemical imbalance where her body confuses images that would normally horrify or disturb us with something sexual. Think of it like staring at a beautiful, completely naked ballerina with beautiful, soft C-cup breasts, and-"

"Haruka," Michiru mumbled, reproachfully.

"Well, this girl at least knows what I'm talking about," Haruka said, gesturing over to the mousey-haired Maya. Maya, who was writing down notes in a clipboard, for whatever reason, began trembling to herself, her cheeks completely scarlet. What was her deal? Was she embarrassed to be in Haruka's company? Or was it to be falsely accused of being a lesbian?

"Well, uh, in any event, what do you think we should do?" Misato said, composing herself.

"Bianca takes her sadism out on the Angels. It's what motivates her to fight: sexual pleasure," Haruka replied, "If you want to keep Bianca as a docile pilot, you can just let her be."

"But if you don't try to offer Bianca psychological help for the trauma of dealing with these confusing emotions, we will never forgive you," Michiru said, her eyes narrowed.

"I hope you're aware we don't have the finances to give Bianca special support," Ritsuko said, coldly, "Look, all the children have issues, but we can't just afford a shrink, or-"

"Then we'll pay for it," Haruka said, tensely, "But just face facts: these kids NEED a psychologist! And you better deliver."

"I don't see anything I can object to there," Misato said, smiling, "I mean, Shinji needs someone to talk to, and Asuka-well, she needs to just get all her inner demons out on the table, or else she'll explode on the inside. I agree."

"If you want, I know of a psychologist that I used to go to in college. I'm sure she'd be perfect," Maya said, "She's well within our payroll, and she's only an hour away. I'm sure she'd be perfect."

Ritsuko couldn't really argue any more. "Look, you handle that paper work, and I'll explain it to Commander Ikari. I guess I can say it'll help improve their synch ratios or something."

"Thanks for cooperating," Michiru said.

"Yeah, because, if ya didn't, I'd have to shot my foot up your ass," Haruka said, "Just saying. I would."


	11. Chapter 11

**Part 11**

"The plan is going smoothly," Ondorf said, in his baritone voice, a grin on his cracked lips, as he stared at the single dark monolith standing over him, shadows tumbling over his robed form like smog in the backyard of Jack the Ripper's playground, "The children will soon be at each others throats, given a few more odd coincidences, and Star's body has neared perfect recovery. I daresay that we'll be soon at the point where we can send the angel to bring the wrath of Heaven down upon these infidels."

"I'm glad to hear this, Ondorf," Chairman Keel's voice echoed throughout the black chamber, his dark voice reverberating in the Archdeacon's eardrums, "However, the primary concern is not the status of the pilots, but the status of one Gendo Ikari."

"The Commander?" Ondorf laughed, his lips curled into a small little grin, "He is barely an obstacle for your objectives, my Lord. I am only here to do your work, for the good of the race we serve."

"Commander Ikari is standing in the way of progress, for the salvation of mankind. You can't fail now, Ondorf. We have far too much riding on your success."

"Do not worry. Star's connections to the Angelic host grants us an edge Ikari cannot possess."

"I pray you're judgment is correct. We cannot afford to lose another member of our group."

Ondorf watched as the single Monolith disappeared, the chamber filling with light as he drew back, his robes swallowing the Archdeacon up as he left the empty chamber, blank monitors that generated the hologram of his lord and master lining the now vacated room's walls. This technology was fascinating, but, alas, all he had to be concerned with was the acceleration of mankind, the progression to the Omega Point.

Instrumentality.

As he left the chamber, he heard the sound of voices speaking in the background. If he was seen in this chamber, a chamber that only the Commanders were permitted, suspicion would be aroused. Yes, he legally could enter any room he chose to, even Terminal Dogma if he truly wanted, but what was the point if this gave Ikari even the slightest inclination that his death would benefit him? No, Ondorf had too much to allow death to interrupt his plans.

"A shrink? A damn shrink? C'mon, this is just stupid! Like we need a stupid shrink."

That voice came from the lips of an angel. The scarlet haired siren walked down the hallway, no, marched down, each step a concentration of inner frustration, taking her anger out on the paved path beneath her feet. At her sides were the other three children: the pathetic son of the Commander, the blank vessel of Lilith's soul, and that fat sadist. A trio of disgusting wretches almost made Ondorf deviate his attention from the svelte form of the thirteen year old girl at the forefront of the group.

Her fists balled up tightly as she snapped, angrily, "Gott in Himmel, what the hell is wrong with these people? Urgggh!"

"It's not THAT bad," Shinji said, shrugging.

"Not that bad?" Asuka snapped, "You ever go to a shrink before?"

"Yes," Bianca said, raising her hand to her eyeglasses.

"Oh, you did?" Asuka repeated, mildly dumbstruck. From his distance away in the darkness, Ondorf felt his pulse quicken as his eyes landed on Asuka's confused expression. Her mouth was drawn thin, eyes widening, eyebrows raised in speculative confusion, though not so exaggerated a gesture to appear like a cartoon or to lose even a fraction of her splendor. She truly was a beautiful little girl.

"Yeah. Long story, and I don't wanna leave you with a bad feeling in your gut, ya know?" Bianca replied, shrugging with her beefy shoulders. That girl was the personification of sin. Ondorf felt nauseated just seeing her communicate with his scarlet haired angel. Did the German girl not realize just how foul this woman's soul was? Did she not know of the sadistic streak in her? Perhaps Ondorf would need to inform Ms Sohryu of the truth. Just maybe.

"I really don't mind going to this psychologist, though," Shinji replied, shrugging, "It's just someone to talk to, right?"

"Ha! That's what you think! Oh, sure, that's what they do at first, buttering you up with all their 'how does that make you feel?'s and 'you're a strong person!'s! But then, the next thing ya know, you're told you have an anal fixation, you have an Oedipus Complex, AND, to top it all off, you're diagnosed with acute Narcissist Personality Disorder."

There was a period of silence before Bianca glanced through her glasses, a sly grin on her lips that made Ondorf's stomach crawl in repulsion. "Lemme guess, that's what happened to you, huh?"

"Shut up! No it didn't! It happened to a friend. Yeah, that's it."

Ondorf made a note to personally vivisect the psychologist who had insulted his angel.

"Look, I dunno what your experiences with psychologists have been like, but they aren't that bad. They're pretty cool, actually," Bianca said with a shrug, "Anyway, the appointment's in an hour or so, so we probably should be starting to get ready."

"What? We need to prepare to go to a shrink?" Asuka replied, a slightly icy sting to her voice.

"Well, I mean, it is about 45 minutes away, so we should probably be goin' over to Michiru. She's taking us, right?" Shinji suggested.

Ondorf smirked. 45 minutes? If they had about an hour, that would leave precious time for him to investigate these newcomers. They weren't killed with the pony tailed man, Kaji, which was quite a shame. Their homosexual nature was a sin against God himself, and, if Ondorf had his way, they'd be hung by the neck over a faggot of flames. By faggot, of course, he referred to the original meaning of the term, referring to a funeral pyre that a witch or homosexual was destined to receive if they had even the slightest desire to cleanse their souls of their filthy sins.

Even burning to death wasn't enough to atone for their sins in Ondorf's eyes.

They deserved to burn for an eternity.

Death by burning was too quick.

Too quick for sinners like them.

#

The car ride was boring, dull, and, above all, just a tad frustration for the German girl. She stared blankly out the window, stuck right by Rei, who had been told to sit in the middle of the three seats. Bianca sat shotgun, Michiru behind the wheel. The dork, on the other hand, was pressed up against the opposite window, staring blankly at the scenery as it passed. Trees were high above their heads, trees that Asuka wasn't even entirely sure should be able to exist in this sort of environment, seeing as how there were so many nuclear reactors and power plants tucked behind each tree.

"You look a little nervous," Michiru said, smiling softly as she drove down the mostly vacated road ahead of her, leaving empty highway behind her.

"I'm not nervous. I just don't wanna do this," Asuka mumbled through her teeth.

"Well, don't worry. Bianca didn't want to either at first when she was a little girl," Michiru said. Bianca's full cheeks turned a color similar to the red head seated behind her, but she held her tongue. "Well, I'm not going to embarrass you too much, but you were quite resistant to the idea. We had to force you to go."

"But I was better off afterwards. I didn't throw any fits about going after a few sessions, remember?" Bianca asked, glasses practically steamed over by the embarrassment burning within and without her.

"Oh, a few?" Michiru laughed, drumming the steering wheel with her fingers, "I recall it took a bit longer than that."

"I was a kid!" Bianca stammered, sweat billowing on her brow.

"Yeah, well, I know that, but it's still a funny story," Michiru replied, shrugging again.

"I don't mean to be rude, but none of this is making me any more eager to go to this shrink," Asuka laughed, bitterly.

"I wouldn't worry too much," Shinji said, "Maybe it's a good thing to have someone listen to you," Shinji said, a thin smile crawling up his lips.

"Do you mean listen to you or listen to me?" Asuka stammered, her memories returning to a night some time ago, memories of the two of them sitting in a darkened bedroom, shadows tumbling over their forms. The words spilled from her mouth, erupting like magma out of a volcano. The relief had left her feeling hollow inside, but it was a good sort of hollow. She had purged herself of a dark demon crawling up inside of herself, a demon devouring her from the inside out. To be free of that cruelty, of those horrible memories, for only a little bit, was such a relief.

Still, that was with Shinji the dork.

He was different than a stranger.

He wouldn't judge her.

No, of course he did.

"Well, there it is," Michiru said, after a little more driving. She pulled into the parking lot next to a large building. It was in the center of a string of similar looking buildings, all bare and ordinary on the outside. Asuka frowned as she abandoned the vehicle, staring up at it. The sun shone down into her eyes, glinting off the windows, blinding her. The others left the vehicle, and progressed toward the building. As Asuka made her move forward, however, a hand extended, and curled its strong fingers around her wrist. She stumbled backward as Michiru stared down at her, a pleasant smile on her lips.

"What is it?" Asuka asked, slightly harsher than anticipated due to the dull ache in her shoulder.

"I heard you played the violin," Michiru said, smiling.

"Who told you that?"

"Kaji."

"Oh."

"I was wondering if you were interested in improving," Michiru asked, smiling softly.

"Well, I am a little, but I'm more into pilot-"

"Your first practice is tomorrow." Did they decide this before even asking the redhead? She felt a sense of frustration well up inside of her chest at the sense of helplessness in deciding her schedule. After all, it wasn't like she was living her life or anything. She had to have some control over the events in her life, and yet these adults seemed to dominate everything instead. She felt so out of control.

Couldn't she do something just on her own?

She was a big enough girl to do it.

Asuka followed the other children up the stair well, following them up a narrow, pewter stairway until they reached the zenith of the complex, where they went down a blank, empty hallway to a beautiful mahogany door. Shinji was the one to open the door, letting them into a simple, small waiting room. They sat down in a row, Michiru withdrawing a single novel from her purse. It looked like some sort of love story, except, on the cover, it looked like there were two women instead of a man and woman.

Asuka hadn't marked Michiru down as a lesbo.

A woman at the reception counter, also wearing stoic white, glanced up as the children took their seats, smiling slightly as she examined each one of them, individually. "Alright, let's see here, Asuka?" Great, she was first? She rose to her feet, grudgingly gritting her teeth as she stepped forward, her steps deliberate and controlled as she marched forward. "Do you want me to escort you?"

"I can do it myself, thanks," the redhead said through her teeth as she pushed through the door, leading to a long, narrow hallway. She wondered if Bianca would be able to comfortably pass through the hall, or, for that matter, if anyone over six feet could walk this way without having to duck their head. It felt closed off, claustrophobic. If one end of the hallway was closed off, she'd be crushed, blocked off from one part of the world. As she took several steps forward, she noticed the floor even had a slight slant to it. Was this a deliberate design flaw, or was it just that this building sucked?

Finally, she turned the knob at the end of the hall, opening up to feel a rush of warmth come over her, caressing her flesh as heat filtered out from this room, a room where the walls were lined with bookshelves filled with academic journals, degrees from universities, or, to Asuka's mild unsettled surprise, people. Their eyes stared down at her as she closed the door behind her, noticing for the first time that the door was actually, for a reason she could not determine, in the shape of a triangle. Why the hell was the door a triangle? The room, additionally, was wider than the hallway by a great deal. Still, Asuka's bedroom was larger, especially considering how a quarter of the room was taken up by a desk covered with personal items on it, a woman seated behind it, a bespectacled girl with a pudgy build. She was not as large as Bianca, nor should this woman be compared to her in any way in regards to girth. She was thick around the middle, but not chubby.

As this woman, who had to be in her thirties at most, smiled, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, she said, "So you're Asuka?"

"Uh, yeah. What's with the stupid hallway?"

"Budget restraints. W couldn't afford a better place, so, for better or worse, we got stuck with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Well, I'm Dr. Michiko Tamako, but if you want you can call me Michiko. Or Dr. Tamako, whichever one you prefer."

"Alright, cool," Asuka mumbled, sitting down in a plush coach, glancing around the room, "Aren't you supposed to have one of those long sofas I lay down on?"

"Well, not enough money for that," Dr. Tamako replied, smiling.

"Ah, some shrink. Well, aren't you hired by Nerv? I'd figure they'd pay you enough to actually get a hallway that doesn't feel like it's about to close in on you."

"Well, Nerv just hired me, but I'm actually a private practice ordinarily. I deal specifically with young adults, like you, who are a bit stressed out or need someone to talk to." Talk to? Asuka laughed to herself. She knew this game full well and good. She could see this doctor's hand so easily. This woman was just following the damn rule book of stupid shrinks from the first thing she said. "I'm sensing some animosity, Asuka. Is something bothering you? School? Love life?"

"Love life? Heh, yeah, right. Look, I know your game. You're just trying to make me feel all relaxed and comfortable, make me feel like we're best friends or something stupid like that, but we both know that all you wanna see is me get all emotional and cry and start talking about my mom and all that stuff." The doctor's face was unchanged as Asuka ripped her apart, smiling pleasantly, as though she'd seen it all before. Was that pity in her eyes? What did she have to pity the scarlet haired champion for, anyway? The redhead wanted nothing short than to beat the psychologist over the head. How much were they paying her to treat them, anyway? How much-?

"Well, first of all, I don't want to make you feel like you're my friend. I actually want to be your friend. Second of all, I don't want to make you start crying all of a sudden. And third off, why would I make you start talking about your mom?"

Asuka raised her eyebrows, confused. Wait, this had to be a trick, surely. After all, why wouldn't a psychologist read her case file? It had to be some sort of trick. Surely it was to make Asuka admit to what happened on her own, to describe the account herself. Well, she wasn't stupid enough to fall for that old trick. "Never mind," Asuka said, smiling softly, "What're those pictures on your desk?"

"Oh, those?" Dr. Tamako asked, smiling, "Those are my kids. I just gave birth to one of my children, and, well, if it isn't obvious, I'm still carrying some of the baby weight on me."

"How long ago was it?" Asuka asked, feeling her muscles tighten. She was a mother. Of course she was, why wouldn't' she be?

"Oh, let's see, about four months ago."

"Shouldn't you be with your kid?"

"I am, usually, but Nerv's offered to help take care of my children while I have these sessions with you, and I need a break once and awhile."

"A break from being a mom?"

"No, not that. It's just that-well, when you're a mother you'll understand," Dr. Tamako replied, a girlish giggle on her tongue.

"I don't intend on having children," Asuka said, frowning.

"Oh? Why not?"

"Well, it's just that-why am I telling you this, anyway?" Asuka grumbled, well aware what had almost slipped out. She had to be careful, had to put her walls up high over her secrets, block them from this woman's grasp. She couldn't spill her guts out like this.

"Well. I sure don't know why. Hey, you wanna play a game?"

"A game?" Asuka laughed, "What? Do I look like a kid to you?"

"Oh, if you're afraid of loosing, that's fine."

A fire ignited in Asuka's chest as she jumped to her feet, a confident grin on her lips. "Dummkopf! I don't suppose you picked up on this, but I don't lose. Name your game!"

"500 Rummy," Dr. Tamako said, withdrawing a deck, "Ever play it?"

"No, but you're gonna tell me the rules."

The minutes passed as Asuka took out her rage upon the cards, not bothering to share any secrets with this shrink. This game had to be a sort of rouse of some sort, but Asuka didn't care. She rushed headlong into battle against this woman, who calmly regarded her cards with a look of sly confidence. Why was she playing cards with the redhead? Why wasn't she dragging the pain out of her heart to examine it like the other shrinks she went to after her mother hung herself? Why wasn't this woman forcing her to discuss her pain that lay deep within her heart.

She didn't want to tell the shrink anything, of course, but why wasn't she at least trying to make her talk?

Wasn't that what shrinks did?

"Ha! I win this round!" Asuka laughed, thumping her hand against the table.

"That you did, but you only have 489 points."

"Oh, so only 11 more. What did you get?"

"Well, before I had 485, so now my score is at-oh, whaddya know? 512! I win."

"What! You cheater! You had to have-well, next time, I'll put you to shame!"

"Put me to shame?" Dr. Tamako replied, smirking slightly, "It's just a game of cards. Ya win some, ya lose some."

"No, I don't 'lose some.' I don't lose. People don't care about losers. They only like winners, the people who get stuff done, and do it right. They only like the best. Do you think the press is interested in hearing about the losing team? I don't think so."

"The press? It's a game of cards, no news casters or cameras involved," Dr. Tamako replied, "At least I don't think. Someone might've bugged this room, so maybe your fears of the world realizing that you lost a card game might be a bit valid, maybe."

"Stop belittling my loss, dammit," Asuka hissed.

"Well, let me just ask you something. If you did lose, hypothetically, what's gonna happen?"

"Well, nothing, but that's not the-"

"Ah, stop right there. Say it again. What will happen if you lose?"

Asuka gritted her teeth, seeing herself backed into a corner. "Nothing, but that's the point! I want something to happen."

"Like what?"

"Well, uh, I dunno. Someone telling me I did a good job, maybe?"

"Well, considering I have years of practice, and you just picked up the game, you did pretty damn good." This left the redhead feeling a little better, but not fine. She felt sickened with herself for allowing someone else to see inside of her. Still, for all intents and purposes, this sickened feeling felt awfully forced, as though she was convincing herself that she should feel sickened right about now, that this was the appropriate emotion.

Otherwise, she felt a little lighter.

"Our session is over today, but I think we'll have to have another game later. Also, I want you to do a little homework for me."

"Homework?"

"Yeah, I want you to tell me three things that you love winning or being the best at."

"Oh, that shouldn't be too hard," Asuka replied, smirking slightly as she left, feeling resentment toward the shrink, but, at the same time…at the same time…

#

"So you're Rei?"

"Yes," Rei replied, silently staring at the psychologist seated before her, smiling pleasantly. She seemed so comfortable, so totally relaxed, as Rei sat down, staring straight at her. She didn't look away nor regard her as odd, as many did, but rather withdraw a deck of cards.

"Do you play Rummy?"

"I'm not familiar with a lot of games," Rei replied, frowning as she approached Dr. Tamako's desk, "If you want me to play, I will."

"Oh, well, I just think you'll have fun playing. Ya know, when I was a girl, we used to play all these sorts of games. It was fun."

"Fun?" Rei replied, thinking of the people she knew. She wasn't sure whether or not, if she asked, they'd want to play games of cards with her. Perhaps Shinji would, the Commander possibly, but she couldn't name another soul who'd offer to play a game with her in any way, shape, or form. She wondered why she noticed, or started to even care, about that at this particular point in time. That was the way it had always been, and always would be.

She was alone.

It was fact.

The game began, and Rei calculated the formulas of how to play the game appropriately in her head. She figured the probabilities of future cards to come, what her opponent had. All the while, Dr. Tamako would smile, opening her mouth to ask friendly questions, such as "Do you need help making a decision?" These questions fell way to Dr. Tamako complimenting her, in a stunned voice, to inform Rei of how well she was doing for a newbie.

"Looks like you won the game, huh?" Dr. Tamako reveled, smirking.

"Seems so."

"Aren't you excited? This is your first time playing and you beat me. Easily."

"Should I be excited?"

"Well, what do you think?"

What did Rei think? She wasn't sure. She knew there was something in the pit of her chest, a feeling that made her feel content, satisfied. Was this triumph? No, she had always seen triumph as a more total, encompassing emotion. Why didn't she feel a sense of triumph now? Was it, perhaps, because she felt no need to feel triumphant? After all, what did she actually accomplish? Simply beating an older woman at a card game. What success or satisfaction could one gain from winning at a hand of cards? It was a curious emotion, this one. Was she satisfied, victorious, or was this emotion just the want of satisfaction and triumph?

"I'm not sure."

"You aren't? But surely you feel something, right?"

Rei took a second to struggle for the words to articulate the emotions in her chest. "I feel something. Whether it is excitement or not I cannot tell. I am not a doll."

"Never said you were. You're not a doll, Rei, and don't let anyone tell you that," Dr. Tamako said, smiling softly, "But what sort of things do you feel, Rei?"

"What do I feel? I'm not sure I understand. Do you mean what I feel now, or at any time?"

"Oh, whenever. Any time you felt strongly about anything at all. Could be as simple as feeling frustration by stubbing a toe or feeling butterflies when you see a cute boy." At this, Rei blushed for but an instant. The psychologist's words, after all, brought Shinji to the forefront of her mind. She twitched slightly as the seconds passed. None of this went past Dr. Tamako's eyes, Rei realized, as the woman grinned, slyly. "Oh, so is there someone you have a crush on."

"No, I don't believe there is."

"C'mon, maybe I can help you out with how to deal with this. Just tell me."

Rei struggled with herself a moment longer before resigning. Psychologists were sworn to secrecy, so she may as well say it. "I think that Shinji is-well, that is to say-"

"So you like him?" Dr. Tamako asked, smirking.

"Well, yes."

"Do you know what he likes?"

"No, I'm not sure, but I feel a little hesitant to tell him I like him."

"Why's that?"

"Because the Second likes him too," Rei replied, "And I'm afraid of her."

"You're afraid of Asuka? Does she bully you?"

"Well, no, but she bullies Shinji. I thought she wanted to make him suffer, but I was informed that she likes him. Is it odd to bully someone you like?"

"Well, amongst some girls who are a little immature, not really. Asuka probably just isn't sure how to deal with her emotions yet. She'll grow out of it, probably, so I wouldn't worry. Still, I will admit, it is a tight fix."

"I'm uncertain what to do, because I really do want to see him happy," Rei said, "But if he'd be happier with the Second, then-"

"But would you be happy?"

Rei considered this for a moment, letting the thoughts roll around in her head. Would she be happy? A part of her would be happy if Shinji found happiness, but, unless he found happiness with Rei, another piece of her would be broken, crushed under foot, filled with flowing and deep sorrow that would cry over her soul, dampening her spirits until soggy remains drifted on the undercurrent of infinity.

"Rei, our sessions up, but for homework, I want you to go and share your emotions five times this next week, alright? Can you do that?"

"I can try."

#

"I'm sorry!" Shinji stammered as the nearby diploma he bumped by tumbled to the ground, bouncing harmlessly off the ground. He picked it up, setting it back on the wall, his cheeks filled with blush. He was making such a great impression. It was just that, after Asuka left that appointment, she seemed so quiet, so frustrated with herself, that Shinji grew nervous. Was all that talk about "shrinks" accurate? Was this woman going to accuse him of having an Oedipus Complex? He certainly wouldn't mind killing his dead in his grizzliest, cruelest of fantasies, but to enter into his mother? And really, Shinji wouldn't kill his father. Never.

Right?

"Don't worry, Shinji, just come over to my desk," Dr. Tamako said, having shuffled the cards in her hands.

"I actually never played 500 Rummy before. Never heard of it, either," Shinji said, "But, uh, I'm sure I can learn."

"That's the spirit. So, Shinji, what do you like doing, if you don't like doing cards?"

"Well, not much, I suppose. I really don't' have a preference toward anything in particular."

"What about sports?"

"Not an athlete."

"Writing?"

"Don't have much to tell?"

"Music?"

Shinji was about to respond when he considered the query, smiling softly to himself, "I do play the cello."

"The cello? I used to play that when I was younger," Dr. Tamako replied, resting a hand on her lap as she dealt the cards, "Gotta admit, though, I wasn't very good."

"I'm sure you weren't that bad, though," Shinji replied, "But I don't practice a lot. Just a little when I'm alone."

"Why not do it in front of someone else? Get someone cheering you on?"

"Well, I would, if I'm told to, but I don't see myself just choosing to do that."

"Do you do a lot of things because you're told?" Dr. Tamako asked, starting the game up.

"Well, yeah. That's why I do a lot of things."

"You're not a fighter, huh?"

"Not really, well, unless Asuka's calling me stupid."

"Does she do that a lot?" Dr. Tamako asked, curiously.

"Well, she does, but not as much as she used to," Shinji replied, smiling to himself. He noticed that, over the course of the past several weeks, since Star first arrived, Asuka had actually been kinder, dare he say it even sweeter, to him. It was amazing to see the flaming ice queen defrost like this, but, dare he say it, he was glad she was warming up to him. It was so beautiful to see her smile.

Still, if he told her any of that, she'd probably beat him with a two by four.

"So do you have a crush on Asuka?" Dr. Tamako asked, smirking slightly.

"No! Not at all," Shinji stammered.

"Look, this room is sound proof. No body can hear you, except for me. Do you have a crush on her?"

"Well, I guess she's cute."

"Well, that's more than nothing," Dr. Tamako replied.

"But then there's Rei."

Dr. Tamako hesitated for a moment, glancing up with a slight frown. "What about Rei?"

"Well, she's nice too, but, you see, there's something off about her."

"Is it that she's quiet?"

"No, more than that. It's that she reminds me of a mother." Shinji was ashamed to say it. While she was beautiful, everything she did reminded him of the nurturer, the person who tended to others to help them in times of need. She never actually did anything motherly, it was just her aura, her presence. Something spiritual about her. Misato was more the mother he never had, that was true, but Rei had this sort of spark to her that made Shinji know she'd make a great mother one day in the future.

"Does that get awkward?"

"A little."

"Would you consider yourself her friend?"

"I'd like to think that, but she never talks to me. She's always so mysterious. I'd like her to open up a bit more to me. I keep feeling like she's avoiding me, too, or just ignoring me."

Dr. Tamako looked like she was about to say something, but hesitated, swallowing her words. The game continued with chatter interrupting the play momentarily. By the time the session was over, neither party had won, both a few points apart, Dr. Tamako ever slightly in the lead. "Listen, Shinji, I want you to do a bit of homework for me. I want you to do five things you want to do. I don't want someone to tell me what they were, or anything someone orders you to do. You have to want to do it all yourself. Can you do that?"

"What if I don't want to do this?" Shinji asked, smirking.

Dr. Tamako laughed to herself for a second. "Well, that might help with the exercise, but just try to do it, okay?"

"I guess I might."

#

"We both know this whole thing's been set up just so I could have someone to talk to," Bianca said, sitting on the sofa, staring at Dr. Tamako.

"Yes, when I was reading everyone's case file, I did notice you had a lot of severe issues, but nothing insurmountable," Dr. Tamako said, sighing, "I have to admit, seeing as how you're so experienced with psychologists by this point, that I'm not sure even how to address your specific issues."

"I know. I'm a rare case," Bianca said, lowering her head in shame.

"Rare, but it's nothing you can't conquer with experience," Dr. Tamako said, frowning, "I get the vibe you're ashamed of this."

"I am. I feel sick. Do you know what it's like to feel your entire body just tremble and quake when you see someone bleeding? A part of you feels this sort of sexual pleasure, like masturbation, only more intense. I guess it's the same as actually having sex, but I obviously wouldn't know. So on one hand, it's a beautiful feeling, but, on the other, I feel all sick inside."

"Sick?"

"Yes, because, really, I'm the one who's filthy inside. I'm the disgusting one. It's all because I'm a filthy, disgusting monster," Bianca felt tears come to her eyes, but she held them in. "I'm sorry if I sound too open too soon. I just think of you psychologists as all the same person after awhile, so I'm just comfortable talking to you about this."

"No, please, go ahead. I think it's good you get this out of you. So, when piloting an Eva, I guess, you must experience a lot of violence. Do you feel this sense of pleasure when piloting?"

"Not because of piloting. If anything, I feel awkward. I don't have the others' bodies. In those plug suits, I just feel vulnerable, as though everyone can see how fat I am. Still, when I'm in control, I feel so powerful. I'm not physically strong, so the idea of handling a machine that I can do whatever I want makes me feel dominant. When I'm fighting the Angels, I feel in control, for once, over something in my life, aside from how much food I can shovel down my throat. Still, after I rip them to pieces, I feel this sickening feeling on the inside. It's like-it's like I'm being raped-all over again."


	12. Chapter 12

**Part 12**

"You are worthless."

"You are just a pathetic coward."

"You are not even fit to lick the shit off the underside of my feet."

"You are nothing but a bug that needs to be squashed."

"You are an embarrassment to your gender."

"You are the one people laugh at when you see friends gathered up on a corner."

"I am your only friend."

The fourteen year old boy heard these voices echoing through his head as he let his head hang over, his dark hair tumbling over his face. The ear buds in his ear blocked out the sound of the world around him, true, but these voices weren't coming from without, but rather from within. He could not extinguish the sounds of berating shouts and jeers if they were coming from the depths of his very memories. The only way to escape the pain of the voices was to ignore them completely, think of something else entirely.

Shinji's eyes landed on the shapeless shadows drifting outside his door as he pushed himself into a seated position, staring blankly up at the ceiling above him. The sound of shuffling bodies, of wooden legs dragged across the floorboards, of sighs of muted frustration. In a heartbeat, he knew the scarlet haired girl was standing outside his door, doing whatever it was girls did when they were trying to let out steam. Had Shinji's own body not been wracked with personal anxiety, memories resurfacing for some odd reason, he'd not-

No, this wasn't random.

This all made sense in its own, twisted sort of way, did it not? He went to a trip to the psychologist's, and this happened. Of course this was how it was. Memories were no doubt dragged out he didn't want to deal with, but why? How? Perhaps it was the comments about standing up for himself, to not simply bow to whatever his authorities told him. To not bend to his father's will. To not resign himself to the words of other people.

Hastily, he pushed himself to his feet, glancing at the door ahead of him. The music wasn't distracting enough. He needed a bigger deviation, something more interesting. Perhaps he'd just cook some food, or something like that. Maybe he'd choose to talk to Asuka. After all, she wasn't the source of his pain at the present time. No, she was just another pilot, another person he lived with. Upon opening the door, he saw the redhead, sipping on what appeared to be either coffee or tea, with heavy steam wafting out from its dark surface.

"Oh, you're here too, huh?" the redhead mumbled, frowning slightly.

"Yeah. Where's Bianca?"

"She's at headquarters with Ritsuko. They wanted to speak to her about something. I dunno what," Asuka mumbled, pressing the mug to her lips. Slowly, the fluid flowed in between her lips, the hot liquid tumbling into her throat. Shinji could see it transferred down her slender neck, her beautiful throat such a tempting structure to kiss. Upon thinking this, he shook the thought out of his head. Kissing Asuka? That was just her begging for an ass kicking.

"Weren't you supposed to do something today?" Shinji asked, curiously removing his ear buds.

"Oh, that? Yeah, like hell I'm gonna go to some violin lesson. I don't even friggen like playing the violin. It was so boring," the redhead mumbled, shaking her head in repulsion.

"Oh, so you don't like the violin?" Shinji asked, smiling softly.

"Well, I don't like playing it. I think it sounds nice, though. Cello's also pretty nice, too."

Shinji smiled at this. "Ya know, Asuka, I play the cello."

She regarded the boy with an amused expression. Her lips curled into a slight smile as she asked, her voice perhaps even sweet, "Are you any good at it?"

"Well, I dunno, I guess I might be alright."

"Well, I'll have to be the judge of that. Get out your cello and play something," Asuka said, smirking. Shinji obeyed the order without delay. He withdrew his massive instrument, and began to play it in the middle of the room, leaning its large body against his lithe form. He ran the bow across the strings, notes drifting through the air, transparent, audible notes that filled the air and room. He played the only song he could think of playing at that moment: Bach's Prelude to Cello Suite 1. At once, Asuka's eyes widened. He stared at Shinji as he drew his bow across the instrument, his fingers pressed against the shafts and strings with a look of concentration on his face. Indeed, this facial expression fully betrayed the emotions inside of his heart. All he felt was the music. He didn't notice nor care about his issues that lurked in the back of his head, nor did he care about his father, or Angels, or whatever. If anything, he could feel those concerns slink down his arms, into his fingers, and out through the notes filling the chamber, out from his system and gone forever, like heat transferring from a furnace.

As the last note echoed across the kitchen, the German girl did not applaud or respond. She was still for a moment, staring at the instrument as though expecting more, but, after realizing that the song had reached its conclusion, she pushed herself up, darting toward her room, and rummaged around for a moment or two. She came back, however, with a violin in her palms. She placed the butt against the inside of her neck as Shinji said, smirking slightly, "I thought you didn't like playing it."

"I don't, but I never have anyone else to play with. This might be a little fun," the German said, "Do you know how to play Canon?"

#

"So it looks like the redhead's a no-show, huh, Michiru?" Haruka asked, a chuckle on her lips as she glanced over at her aqua haired lover.

Michiru smiled slightly, folding her arms over her chest. What did her lover expect to gain by making all these orders? Well, Haruka knew full well what she was hoping for, and naturally she was very desperate for that outcome, but, to be fair, even a tomboy like Haruka knew how to be subtle about these sorts of things. The psychologist was one thing. Bianca needed that. But violin lessons? That was a little much. A little rash.

Still, some lessons needed to be taught the hard way, and Haruka would rather not risk irritating her lover.

She wasn't very nice when pissed off.

"I don't know what I was expecting. I was just hoping to get some time alone with that poor, broken girl," Michiru replied, "I guess I didn't go about it the right way, huh?"

"Oh, is that an understatement," Haruka chuckled, "I seriously think that you need to rethink your strategies here. We both know what you want, what we know."

Michiru smirked, "Yes, I-"

There was a knock on the door.

Haruka glanced up. That redhead couldn't have been submissive enough to actually come to the practice. Surely not. After all, from what Haruka read, she was something of a stubborn child. It would be awfully out of character for her to actually go to a lesson she clearly did not want to go to. No, but clearly someone might expect it. The short haired girl glanced at Michiru, who nodded softly in response as she withdrew a pistol.

Haruka held her own firearm in her hands as she darted toward the door, pistol aimed at the crack as she opened it, hastily, ready to fire on command. The dull voice that responded send a cold chill through Haruka's heart at first, but upon seeing Gendo Ikari, Kozou Fuyutsuki, and Ryouji Kaji's faces, she felt that chill melt ever so slightly.

"Were you expecting something else?"

"No, Commander Ikari," Haruka said, lowering her pistol, "That's why we were threatened."

"Ah, sounds like a reasonable response," Kaji said, smirking as the trio walked into the living room. Haruka noticed Kaji glance at the numerous portraits of the sky and ocean that lined the walls. "How much did these cost?"

"Nothing. I painted them myself," Michiru replied.

"Quite a talent you have for the arts," Fuyutsuki said, "I haven't seen such beautiful sights since before the Second Impact. But enough of that. You know why we're here, surely."

"Honestly, no. A car race across town?" Haruka asked, grinning sarcastically, pistol still in hand.

"No, we're here regarding the organization Seele, and what you know that we don't," Gendo said, stoic as always.

"What we know?" Haruka chuckled to herself, lowering her pistol as she plopped herself down on a seat, "Man, we could write novels about what we know. But I can guess you know the majority of all that."

"I'd advice against beating around the bush," Gendo said, impassively, "The only reason I told Ritsuko to grant your request to send the children to a psychologist was because I knew you could supply us with information on Seele. To my knowledge, Seele is planning to divide us, to make us weaker, make us vulnerable. I need to know everything if we even have a prayer of surviving, and you will tell me what I want to know."

"Alright, like what?" Haruka asked after a moment of hesitation.

"Well, for starters, you could tell us what you know about this Ondorf person," Fuyutsuki suggested.

"We don't know anything about him, other than that he's a Seele slime ball," Michiru replied, a chuckle on her kissable lips, "He's a pretty high ranking member to my knowledge, though, seeing as how he can hold secret conferences in your communication rooms with Keel Lorenz himself."

"What?" Gendo scoffed, a hint of shock in his eyes that even his mask of vacancy could not hide, "That's impossible. I'd know if anyone-unless he-he probably knows some sort of trick with the security, or perhaps with his clearance."

"The sneaky bastard." Kaji shook his head as he approached the two women, his ponytail dancing behind him as he said, slowly, "I suppose you'd know where to find the other members of Seele, though."

"Why would we know? We're lowly soldiers here," Haruka said, a bitter laugh in her mouth, "Besides, there's one Seele thug in particular that I'd like to nail right through the balls."

"Haruka!"

"Well, you know you'd want to do it too!"

"No, I'd shoot his kneecaps and tell him to walk to an army base. In the middle of Vietnam."

"And here I thought I was brutal," Haruka chuckled.

"What if we could also help you find this member of Seele, and make your revenge possible?" Gendo asked, a slight grin on his lips. Haruka chuckled at this. This offer of help didn't surprise her. If anything, she had been waiting for it.

"You want Seele gone, don't you? Alright, we'll gladly contribute our aid to eliminate this particular member. I just need to know where he lives so I can drag him out back and stab him to death with a-"

A siren blared out over the buildings.

#

"Is that an Angel?" Bianca stammered, rising to her feet as she stared out at the monitors, her cherubic face filled with blush and awe. There, on the screen, was a great black ball. It had no features, other than the perplexing pattern of zebra stripes along the scale of its body. Was it some negative star, a diseased sun, that had fallen to Earth? Or perhaps it was simply the fingerprint of the devil itself. Whatever the hell that freaky shit was, it was sending chills up Bianca's spine just looking at it.

That wasn't the only part of her that was tense.

"That's right," Ritsuko said, frowning, "This new angel looks pretty bizarre compared to some of the previous ones we've had to deal with. We should wait until the others arrive-"

"I think I can save you the trouble," Bianca said, frowning.

"Why? What could you do?"

"I could kill it," Bianca replied with a shrug. She could feel her body clenching, her heart racing. She had to appear calm, had to look steady. The tension surging within her, this squiggly tickling from within deep inside her body, was putting her on edge. She had to kill it, had to see it bleed all over the floor, feel its flesh tear under her fingers as she ripped it to shreds, had to watch it convulse wildly and die.

What the fuck was wrong with her?

"Kill it on your own?" Ritsuko replied, weighing her options, "You do realize we don't have the proper data to even know what that Angel is like? We're not even sure it is an angel yet. That's how little we know about-but you look determined." Ritsuko's face squirmed a little as she finally said, slowly, "Fine, go ahead and do it."

Bianca ran off to the changing room, stripping naked. She avoided looking at any reflective surface, lest she see her thick arms tremble as she tugged her plug suit over her plump form. She cringed as she felt her stomach ripple as the suit suddenly compressed against her skin, like the gentle caress of a boa constrictor around its bosom buddy the mongoose.

No, wait, mongoose attacked cobras.

Silly her.

As she abandoned the locker room and her loose clothing, walking down the dimly lit path toward the Eva, she felt her mind wandering to moments before. She had sat in that room with Ritsuko, her cheeks filled with blush, as she heard the voice of her superior officer echo through her ears. "You're a sadist, is that correct?"

With a voice barely louder than a whisper, she mumbled, "Yes, yes I am."

"I didn't want to bring this up, but all these tests, your guardians coming, the whole psychology affair-I'm sure you realized they were all because of you."

"I figured that, ma'am."

"I've been told you aren't a threat to any of us, so I'm not too worried. However, I just want to understand this from a scientifically perspective is all."

Bianca was silent for a moment, pushing her glasses up her nose before saying, softly, "Are you afraid of me?"

"What was that?"

"Afraid of me? Because I get off on seeing people bleed and suffer. Does that bother you?" Bianca asked, her voice a whisper far too timid for any normal person to assume it came from the cherubic pilot.

"I'm not afraid since I know you're not a threat to me, but-"

What followed next was a torrent of words that started as a gentle murmur, but soon grew into a chaotic cry. "No, but don't you hate people who are like me? I'm evil. You know that, right? Pure unadulterated cruelty. I enjoy watching pain and agony. People bleeding, that's like looking at porn or something. I'm one of the foulest creatures on this Godforsaken planet, so if you know all this about me than clearly you must be terrified of me. You probably even hate me, and I wouldn't be blame you! In fact, if I were you, I'd shoot me now, just blow my brains out of my skull and let me just die already!" As though to brace herself from the coming bullet, Bianca clasped her hands on the back of her skull, tucking her face down, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Ritsuko, however, merely sighed. "If I planned on killing you, you'd be dead by now."

"But you wouldn't save me if I was in trouble, would you?"

Before Ritsuko could answer, the alarm had rung.

#

"You're letting her go out and fight that thing on her own?" Misato stammered, staring into Ritsuko's unblinking eyes.

"Affirmative," Ritsuko said, ignoring her friend's mortified eyes. What was wrong with this course of action? On one hand, the angel could potentially be eliminated within minutes, saving Tokyo 3 from the threat of another attack. Lives would be saved. Likely case scenario, Bianca would fend off the attacker until Shinji and the others arrived, and then they'd destroy the angel together. Worst case scenario, Bianca died, but bought enough time for the others to arrive. In any scenario, Ritsuko would still come out receiving a positive result.

She liked positive results.

Maya turned to face her superior, a quizzical expression on her face. "But ma'am, we don't have any data on this angel at all. How're we-?" Her voice was quelled by Ritsuko's fingers against her shoulder, pressing softly into her flesh.

"Just trust me on this one."

"O-okay. Unit-04, in launch zone."

"I still don't feel good about this," Misato said, "I give the orders around here. What if I don't feel like saying this mission is acceptable or not?"

"Well, then I'll just have everyone veto your declaration and do it anyway," Ritsuko replied, mildly.

"What?" Misato shouted, her eyes wide with frustration, "You don't have the authority to do that."

"Yes. Yes I do. Eva Unit-04, launch."

#

The impact of each foot against the pavement sent a slight shock through Asuka's thigh as she hurdled over an overturned garbage pail. She was far too lazy to walk around it like an ordinary person, and hurdling over something just looked so bad-ass when pulled off right. The dork had to do it the easy way, but the redhead really didn't care about that once the ground began to shake beneath her toes. She stumbled over, landing face-first on the ground. Shinji too stumbled, but he didn't fall. If anything, he stood long enough to give Asuka a hand up from her position.

"What just happened? Was that the angel?" Asuka stammered, glancing up at the black moon in the distance, her heart racing. They weren't protected. They weren't in their Evas. They were freaking running on foot down the streets of Tokyo with an Angel above their heads, and they were completely vulnerable. The ground was shaking. Did it just attack? How? Could they be inches away from death and not even know how the hell they were going to go out? Her skin was cold and clammy, even after the source of the shuddering showed itself.

Unit-04.

"They're launching without us?" Asuka stammered, eyes wide, "What the hell?"

"Maybe they're desperate?" Shinji asked.

"Shut up! There's no way in hell they'd launch without their best pilot!" What was wrong with Misato? Was she insane? First of all, why did they have to send Bianca alone? Sure, she was a good pilot and all, but Asuka was the best one they had. Why wouldn't they at least wait for their elite soldier first before attacking? Was she nuts? Second off, why didn't they wait for everyone like they always did? And third off, why Bianca?

Was she supposed to be a decoy?

"C'mon, hurry up!"

#

Bianca sighed, slowly, as she stared out at the great sphere in the sky only a few thousand yards away. She felt each finger clench and unclench itself, her lungs inflating and deflating, her lower regions filled with tension, tension that waited for a climax, a beautiful, lovely, orgasmic climax of carnal pleasure, of carnal violence, of sinful lust that only a true fucked up lunatic could dream up, and Bianca, with a note of guilt in her mind's voice conceded, was one such monster.

She hid behind a building, a machine gun in her one hand and a great longsword in the other. The best attack wouldn't be a frontal assault, or close ranged combat. No, no. She didn't know what sort of AT Field that thing had. The best attack would probably be to just shoot the damn thing. Still, perhaps she should make a distraction, then shoot and slice it to ribbons. But what sort of distraction?

She opened fire on the empty street.

Misato's voice blared throughout the entry plug. "Bianca! Are you out of your mind? That costs money!"

The distraction probably worked, because the enemy sphere suddenly and unexplainably disappeared. On the ground below, a great circle of darkness, a shadow as deep as a black hole in the vacuum of space, opened up. The buildings and objects within its restraints began to tumble within its grasps, as though the ground had turned to tar.

Bianca was beyond its threshold, thankfully.

"So that's its trick, huh?" Bianca chuckled, "A black shadow. What if we just try to cancel it out?" Unit-04's AT Field expanded out from the mere willpower of its pilot. She concentrated on her aura, swirling it around the black pit. At once, however, she felt her field collapse upon itself, her eyes widening in horror as all around her turned black.

#

Misato watched the screen before her as the black vortex twisted outward. The apparently flat shadow had changed shape, or at least a tendril extending from its depths had. Sprouting arms, breasts bursting from an area poorly defined as a chest, a head spurting out from its tip, it stretched for Unit-04, caressing its face. Soon, however, its entire body had turned into something poorly resembling sludge, an insult to the fact it had once barely resembled a human being. It gurgled sickeningly as it wrapped itself around Unit-04's skull, pulling it slowly toward the black pit.

"What's the status of the Eva?"

"The Angel's AT Field and Unit-04's are merging!" Aoba stammered.

"No, that's not it," Hyuuga stammered, "The Angel's breaking through the field into Bianca's mind!"

Misato stared in horror. The angel was intruding on the thoughts of one of the pilots. It was attacking her mind directly. Had she gone out with reinforcements, perhaps this would never have come about. She'd be safe, be defended, but now she was left to be the victim of a godlike opponent. Her fingers trembled as she turned on the blonde haired scientist. "This is all your fault!"

"Me? No, we had no way of determining the angel would behave like this," Ritsuko said, frowning, her skin pale and clammy, "None whatsoever. At least now we have the data to-"

"Ritsuko! Because of your stupid order, someone could be dead, and all you have to say is "well at least we have some shitty data'! Bullshit. Don't we have any other pilots here to-"

"Yes, major."

#

"Is there anybody out there?"

Bianca's eyes opened in the depths of infinite darkness, staring at the other end of a train. The windows let in the amber light from behind, intense. There was no sun creating this light, nor could she see any source of light. She felt her heart race as she came to realize she was alone on this little vehicle, binding down as the signal of the oncoming train echoed throughout the chamber only to dissolve into the background, an eerie ghost of a howl dying away.

There was one person seated in front of her.

She was a small girl, but her shape and face were blocked out by shadows. The orange light shone behind her head, a halo obstructing his body completely, extending like the wings of an angel. Still, the sense of anxiety consuming her every fiber left her feeling less like she was the witness of an angel's beauty, and more like a demon. Unless, possibly, the girl seated before her was the Angel. By this point, that wouldn't surprise her. She pushed her glasses up her nose as she said, slowly, "Just who are you?"

"Me? I am you. I am the you that exists in your mind."

"My mind?"

"Yes. After all, there are two selves: the self that others observe and the self that observes itself."

"So you're an existentialist, huh? I can catch on from here. Just what do you want, angel?"

"I'm not sure you understand. I am not an angel-"

"I'm not falling for this. I know what you are. I'm still in the Eva right now. This is all just an attack on my mind, so I just need to snap out of this and repel this on you. That's all I need to do." But how to do it? Bianca figured, if she was still in her Eva, an attack with her AT Field should do the trick. She concentrated as though she were in the Eva on hr AT Field. She clenched her fists in tension, but, as the empty seconds passed, fear began to grip her.

Why wasn't anything happening?

"Relax, I have no intention of hurting you."

"Then what do you want?" Bianca snapped back, eyes livid.

"Do you enjoy hurting other people?" the stranger before her asked.

"What? No, not at all! I hate it, just like everyone else."

"Do you enjoy hurting other people?

"No, I'm not a sicko. Do I look like one?"

"Do you enjoy hurting other people?"

"Maybe I do a little."

"Do you enjoy hurting other people?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"What the hell do you want from me, damn it!" snapped Bianca, her eyes filled with anger as she approached the girl, her fingers flexing as she snarled, ready to wrap her hands around the girl's throat.

"Hurting me will not distract you from the pain."

"What pain? I don't feel any pain!" Bianca grabbed the girl by the throat, ready to squeeze her windpipe and veins until she turned blue. Still, despite the tingle of pleasure coursing throughout her, causing her thigh muscles to twitch, she held back, curious as to what she had to say before she cut off his air supply.

"The pain of the memories. You've been running away from your problems through personal pleasure."

"What's wrong with using pleasure as an escape?"

"You've enjoyed killing those angels, haven't you?"

"Shut up!"

"You've enjoyed fattening yourself up like a pig, didn't you?"

"Shut the fuck up!"

"You enjoyed it when you were raped over by that Seele member just to become an Eva pilot, didn't-!"

Her words were reduced to a pathetic squeak as Bianca's hands squeezed tighter against her throat, the butt-ends of her palms pressing against her windpipe until all that emerged from her mouth was a high, weak, frail, muted cry for help. Bianca felt every muscle in her arms tense up as she cried out, "Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up SHUT UP!"

As though a hand had wrapped around her waist, Bianca felt herself being pulled backward, out from the depths of the amber sky around her, and into the cockpit of her Eva. She stared up as the darkness dissolved away, the formless mass pinned to the street under the mighty harpoon of Unit-00! There it stood, a blade plunged into its chest, the tendril crying out as though it were a mother learning they were to be forced to eat each her twelve children alive. "Take shelter," Rei said, her voice echoing through her entry plug.

The tendril twisted upward, smaller vines of darkness ascending the stalk of the harpoon toward her hands. She stumbled backward, but the dark vines kept her from falling against the street. She struggled to stand up straight, the Angel tugging her closer to the vortex before her. The Eva leapt forward, wrapping her arms around the Unit-00's chest. The two struggled against the grasp of the angel, staring in horror of the Angel's dark pit.

"Damn it!" Bianca grunted against the force pulling her deeper into the black hole. Unit-00's joints were groaning loudly as the darkness began to tear her apart. With a sudden lurch, Bianca watched Unit-00's arm ripped from its socket, pulled into the depths of the Angel's vortex. The two units tumbled against the ground, the very Earth shuddering under the force of impact. The black hole receded into herself, and, for a brief instant, Bianca considered that maybe she had been salvaged.

And then the ground dissolved from beneath her.

The Hole was being formed right from beneath her body. She rested her feet against Unit-00's back, and, with a sharp kick, forced Rei into the air, against the ledge of a building, where it remained imbedded. Hastily, it struggled to free itself, but at least it was out of immediate harm, despite the building beginning to tumble into the depth. But Bianca, on the other hand, had begun to sink into eternal darkness. She was to tumble into the infinite darkness. If a mere caress of the angel was enough to give her madness, imagine was diving into its whole would do to her mind?

And then she was thrown into the air, as were the buildings that were partially submerged into the dark pit. Bianca was head over heals in the sky, above even the sphere of darkness that was the Angel. It had begun to lurch, bulges springing out from beneath its monstrous skin, as, ever slowly, blood began to trickle down out of the volcano-like tumors. Soon, more blood splurted out, like massive boils being popped within the jaws of a rat. Slime and carnage rocketed out of the open sores, until the entire Angel was nothing less than a mass of bloodied, grotesque shambles. The dark pit on the ground cracked open, soon a great geyser of blood spewing plasma into the air, splattering against every surrounding building.

And there, standing a few football fields away, was Unit-03, it's hand outstretched casually, its cockpit opening to reveal a fully recovered Star Aran grinning within its dark depths, a confident grin on his lips.

#

The door hummed as the two remaining pilots darted into the lobby. "C'mon, if we hurry up, maybe we'll make it in time to help out," Asuka stammered, darting alongside the black haired pilot to fight a battle they had already missed.


	13. Chapter 13

**Part 13**

"Mein gott, that idiot is back."

It wasn't enough for that arrogant bastard to breathe the same air as she did. It wasn't enough that he had to dirty the seats of the Evas with his repulsive derriere. No, it had to be that the idiot reared his ugly head yet again, his filthy, wicked eyes glancing ever so often in her direction, tarnishing her vision with his grotesquely beautiful pupils. She felt her blood boil as her desk trembled under her tight fists. Hikari and Bianca regarded her as a volatile time bomb, and Asuka did little to convince them they should think otherwise.

"That stupid jack-off narcissist shit-for-brains douche bag!" Asuka growled through her teeth, "When I get my hands around his throat, I'll squeeze it until every single one of his stupid little veins explodes under his God forsaken skin!"

Bianca laughed nervously at this, smiling bashfully as she said, slowly, "Look, maybe we should try to be a little more subtle about this? He does have fans, remember?"

This was true. Asuka didn't understand how a person she publicly humiliated could still have people follow him. Not only were his devoted fan girls and fan boys still loyal to him, but they regarded him as the crucified Messiah after rising from the grave. At that moment, his desk was surrounded by women, asking if he was injured, prodding his skin with their delicate little fingers to see if he still hurt where "that bitchy German girl hit him."

And he'd always respond, a laugh on his lips, "That Nazi would have to hit a bit harder to hurt me."

A Nazi.

It had been bad when that was just a small nickname he had for her between her closer companions, but now that he was using that nickname for her in the open, where everyone could hear his stupid voice, the idea that the German girl was secretly a Neo-Nazi spread like wildfire. At first, she thought it would just be a stupid nickname, one that genuinely bit into her heart, but not to be taken literally. However, it soon became apparent that the school literally believed her to be a devoted follower of the Third Reich.

That hurt.

Everyone also seemed to turn a blind eye to the fact that Japan was allies with the Nazis.

"I'm sorry, but this is just getting stupid," Hikari had told a few girls within Asuka's earshot before lunch, "Do you have any evidence she is a Nazi?"

"Yeah! Star said she was."

Star. Star. God damn fucking Star! Asuka felt her nails bite into her palms as she gritted her teeth, every muscle in her body tensing up, before she felt like a volcano ready not only to erupt, but to explode like a nuclear warhead! She pounded the desk again, her face scarlet as she rose to her feet. Had it not been for both Bianca and Hikari holding her back, she would've rammed her knuckles across Star's cheek at that very moment.

"I'll kill him. I swear, all it needs is one blow to the throat-"

"-for you to get jail time. Just calm down, he's not worth it," Hikari said, comfortingly, "It'll blow over. Trust me."

"I don't care. I still wanna see him in pain."

"So do I, but that's besides the point," Bianca said, flustered, "Look, hurt him where it counts: his pride."

"Uh, Bianca, I'm not sure that's the right advice to give right now," Hikari said, slowly.

"Well, that's where he tried to hurt me last time. And now," Asula said, slowly, "Good thinking. I'll just need to beat him where it counts. Out there!"

"Yeah! But after our meeting later with the therapist."

"What!" Asuka had nearly forgotten about that pudgy lady. What was that assignment she wanted her to do? Why would she care? Ah, screw it, right now, she didn't give a damn about some stupid shrink, just like she didn't give a damn about anything now except hurting Star. Still, last time she broke his body, and now he was back with a vengeance. Maybe it was time to turn the table on that arrogant Gary Stu.

#

"Shinji, it's been awhile."

Shinji felt tension ebb up his body as he turned to face Star, the sneering Ace Pilot's arms folded across his chest. Before, he had made Shinji a tad uneasy from time to time, but now, having seen his true colors, he left the dark haired boy feeling sick inside. In fact, he felt just as sick as Star looked on the outside. His skin was pale and clammy, and he kept coughing into his arm. Clearly, he had a bit more recovery to do. For some odd reason, this gave Shinji a sense of satisfaction, though he didn't dare show it.

"Hey there. Feeling better?"

"For the most part. Listen, I understand that last time I probably acted a little out of line. But I'm here to just apologize for the misunderstanding last time. Ya know, with the Nazi girl."

"Uh, misunderstanding?"

"Yes, I think one of the other girls must've wrote me that letter and given it to me. It's a bit cruel, I know, but now it's fine. I won't make that same mistake again."

"Yeah, I see. Another girl. Right, well, listen, I have to go to an appointment later, but, if you want-actually, I think you have to-join us."

"Oh, no, that's alright. I'll probably need to rest. My guardian Ondorf needs to debrief me about something very important. Well, I'll have to be off, then. Ciao, Mr. Ikari."

Shinji watched Star walk away, a dozen fan girls still swooning over him, caressing his arms and body. For a moment, Shinji envied him. He wanted those women touching him like that. Why weren't girls flocking to caress him and hold him? Why couldn't he find someone who wanted to be close like that, who'd find him physically attracted and ignore his personality defects?

What did Star have that Shinji didn't?

"So what did that asshole want?" Shinji turned to see Toji and Kensuke standing behind him. It was strange that Star hadn't addressed them, but Shinji shrugged it off as Star simply not noticing the other two.

"Oh, nothing. He wanted to apologize for that letter scandal."

"Scandal? What? How do you apologize for that?"

"He lied and said someone else did it."

"He's got some nerve to do something like that," Kensuke muttered to himself, shaking his head, "But don't worry about him. We have bigger news."

"Bigger news?" Shinji asked, glancing over at Kensuke, who seemed positively giddy.

"Yeah! Did you hear that Eva Units 05 and 06 are being transferred over?"

"05 and 06? There's more of them?" Shinji asked, eyes raised.

"Yeah, and supposedly, they don't have pilots for them yet! Oh, I'd love to be an Eva Pilot!" Kensuke cried, smiling in euphoria.

"Yeah, it's not all fun and games, man," Shinji said, frowning, "I mean, it probably looks fun from the distance, but it's kinda horrifying, ya know? Like you're inches away from dying. Especially the first time."

"Yeah, well, I don't care if it's rough! It looks freaking awesome! Imagine, piloting a giant robot!"

"I don't exactly need to imagine. I do it on a regular basis…"

#

That boy was staring at the back of her head. The azure haired Rei felt her skin tingle uncomfortably as a single chilling sensation ran through the span of her bone marrow. What was this feeling? This desire to run, to get away, that boiled on the insides of her stomach and intestines, seeping outward, telling her she wanted to go, wanted to sprint out into the open fields or hide behind a tight corner? Why did she feel her lungs filling with air faster, her heart racing, as she glanced over her shoulder to see Star Aran walking toward her, alone.

"Hello, Fourth Child," Rei replied, struggling to sound neutral, her deep breathing rendering said attempt worthless.

"Breathless, Rei?" Star asked, smiling as he took a few steps forward, "I didn't know you'd be this excited to see me."

Truth be told, she wasn't excited. This feeling in her body had the tingle of excitement, sort of, but at the same time felt most unpleasant. It was this emotion that drew her foot back a bit, not quite a step but almost. "What is it you want to tell me?"

"Well, I wanted to ask if you told anyone about the whole Letter thing?"

"That I did not."

"You also didn't tell anyone you wrote it, right?"

"That I did not."

"Excellent, well, look, I was going to go to Ondorf later for a little meeting. Would you like to join me?"

Rei remembered her appointment for later. She wasn't able to go, even if she wanted to, which she didn't. She remembered the kind words she shared with Dr. Tamako, words that made her feel less like a freak of nature, and more like a person. She seemed to relate to Rei, and, the mores he thought about it, the more she liked the doctor. Slowly, Rei replied, "No, I can't. I have a prior engagement."

"Oh, okay, can't you skip it?"

"No, I can't." Rei remembered the goals Dr. Tamako had set for her. Express her emotions a set number of times. She hadn't done that nearly enough this past week, but at that moment, she felt that expressing herself once was better than never doing it at all. "I won't."

"You won't?" Star asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, I won't. I want to go see the doctor."

"You'd rather get your head examined like a freak than go on a walk with me?" Star asked before coughing into his arm.

"Yes."

At that, Rei turned around, and left Star on hi own.

#

"So where's Star? I arranged for him to have an appointment too."

It figured that Michiru wanted to spend the day painting. Had to delegate the menial labor onto her overworked lover. Haruka ran a hand through her hair, shielding her eyes from the sunlight, as though somehow, without the beams of solar energy soaring into her corneas she'd see Star amongst the students filing out of the school. Alas, this wasn't the case. All she saw were Shinji, Asuka, Rei, and Bianca, standing before her.

"He won't be joining us," Rei replied, filing into the car. Haruka smirked. Did she hear a bit of spunk behind that monotone voice? She had been told the First Child was a vacant doll by some of her co-workers, but it sounded like the blue haired girl had a bit of an attitude to her. The sandy haired lesbian liked that.

"He said he had to go to a meeting with Ondorf or something like that," Shinji said.

"What? You talked to that asshole?" Asuka snapped, rounding on the dark haired boy.

"No, he came up to me and started acting-"

"Well, really, I don't care and all, but Michiru'll be pissed if I don't-oh, there he is!" Haruka laughed, noticing the pretty boy in the crowd, her stomach knotting as a grin curled alongside her gums, a triumphant, violent little grin, "Wait in the car, I'll be right back."

"You aren't gonna go up to him in public, are you?" Bianca asked, her full cheeks filling with red.

Of course she was. He was meeting with Ondorf? What a perfect chance this was! She couldn't get an opportunity more golden! She shoved both hands into the pockets of her jacket, feeling little crawling legs prickle against her wrists. A few feet away from Star, she reached out, placing a hand on the boy's shoulder. "Star? C'mon, it's time for you to come with me."

Star turned to face Haruka, confused. "Look, I'm not into older women. Do you mind letting go?"

The prickling legs had crawled in-between the folds and layers of his outfit. Haruka released him, a smirk on his lips, "But, Star, you need to go to your herpes treatment."

"Herpes treatment?" one of the girls asked, a few feet away from him, raising an eyebrow, "Star doesn't have herpes, do you?"

"Well, have you checked to make sure?" Haruka asked, sincerely.

"No, of course I don't have herpes! Look, uh-who're you, again?"

"Haruka. Haruka Tenoh. You know, from Nerv? Yeah, look, it's time to say bye-bye to all your lady friends and come with me."

"Yeah, right, I have a meeting with Ondorf. Whoever the hell you are, I don't think you're a higher authority than he is."

"Yeah, probably not, you're right. But do you have any proof you're definitely going to see him and not skipping out on your crabs removal?"

"Crabs?" another fan girl turned pale at that.

"I thought you said I had herpes-and no! I don't have crabs, either!" Star snapped at his trembling fan girls, his face turning red, "Look, do you like your job?"

"It pays the bills, but it's not as fun as drag racing. Do you drag race?"

"I won a few races. It got boring."

"Really, we should go after we remove those parasites that snuck into your urethra."

Star stared at Haruka, eyes narrowed for a moment or two, before turning away, shaking his head in disbelief. Haruka grinned. Judging by the way his fan girls queried and attended to him, the overconfident little prick wouldn't feel those humble little pricklings against his skin, so that, by the time he arrived at Ondorf's house, he'd be like a rat transferring fleas with the bubonic plague.

Or, ya know, inadvertently bugging Ondorf and himself so Michiru and Kaji could spy on them.

As Haruka seated herself behind the driver's wheel, her four wards stared at her in stunned silence. A slight grin on her face, she asked, turning her sports car into drive, "What? What're you all staring at?"

"Did you just publicly humiliate Star?" Asuka asked, in a stunned, euphoric tone.

"Uh, yeah."

"I love you."

"Well, I don't think gay marriage is legal in Japan, and I also have a lovely girlfriend at home," Haruka replied, driving off.

"What, Michiru? Oh, she's your girlfriend?" Asuka asked, raising her eyebrow.

"What did you think they were?" Bianca asked, confused.

"Cousins? Maybe?"

"Oh, we are cousins. We're just also lesbians."

"Really?"

"Nah, I'm just messing with ya."

#

"It's been awhile, Star, since I've seen you like this." Ondorf said, glancing over at the young pilot, sitting down on a bench next to a table. "I take it that your feeling ill thanks to your display of power in the last battle?"

"It was a flashy way of showing I'm back," Star replied, grinning as he chewed down on a chocolate chip cookie. After all, how else to utterly show your greatness to the masses by exploding an Angel with your sheet energy? He didn't even fire a blast at the thing, simply tearing it apart with his AT Field alone. Now that was a pretty bad-ass way to deal with things. He didn't see the Nazi after winning, but he could imagine her expression of horror, of frustration, of depression.

She deserved it for how she abused Rei.

"Did you not consider the risks before showing off for the masses, Star?" Ondorf asked as Star swallowed a glass of milk with his sweet, "Did you not consider that, for a moment, you'd risk unleashing a dangerous enemy too soon?"

"But sir, how else was I supposed to kill it?"

"You could've used something less powerful. Did you know that particular angel, according to Chairman Keel, had the capability to warp reality?"

"Warp?"

"Yes, warp as in suck objects into its own pocket dimension within the furthest recesses of the angel's mind? Now, on one hand, it's possible the angel's little Dirac Sea could've swallowed up the energy and kept it sealed up so that no harm would be done. Still, do you know what your little stunt could have caused?"

"Uh-"

"Third Impact several months ahead of schedule!" Ondorf slammed his fist hard against the table, his eyes wide and filled with anger. It was as though, from the depths of Hell, a demon had sprung forth, roaring with the might of Satan screaming out as he fell. Star's eyes widened. He was all alone, in this room, and Ondorf was furious at him. He felt his heart beat in his chest, his fingers trembling so that even the cookie in his fingers crumbled apart.

"But it didn't."

"You idiot!" Ondorf smashed the tray of cookies prepared for Star across the room. It shattered against a wall, but no one moved to clean it. Rather, Ondorf moved for Star, grabbing him by the hair, pulling his head back until it was pressed against the ground. "You could've killed us all, all for just a little showing off! Do you have ANY foresight whatsoever!"

"But sir-!"

"If you weren't such an instrumental weapon of Seele, I'd burn you alive for your pride. But alas, that course of action is not a very wise decision given our circumstances," Ondorf said, releasing the boy's hair. Star felt his heart beat in his chest, his eyes widened in fear, as he trembled, his breathes escaping in short, shallow gasps. Ondorf ignored Star's state, and rather approached the tray of cookies. Though the glass ornament had been reduced to crumbs, a few of the cookies remained intact. Ondorf withdrew a single treat, examining it through his fingers. "Tell me, Star, what's your relationship with the other pilots like?"

"The other pilots?" Star considered this. The only one he really cared about was Rei, with her beautiful, quiet allure. She was quite a beautiful girl, one he could see himself making love with. Even now, despite that every girl in the school could touch and feel him, the fact he couldn't lay a hand on that blue haired Goddess left him feeling cold and vacant on the inside. What he would do for one kiss upon her lips, to hold Rei in his arms, to have luscious sex with her, to feel himself come into her. What a lovely dream it was, but, alas, for now it was but a dream.

Ondorf, still holding the cookie in his fingers, glanced over at Star with a slight grin to his old, dried up lips. "Did you know that the Shinji boy is going to ask the First Child out to be his date soon?"

Star raised an eyebrow at this. His stomach was clenched, his body was tense, his heart racing, but he couldn't respond too strongly. Not on the outside. "Oh, how did you hear-?"

"Well, I know these sorts of things, boy. I do speak to his father after all."

"But they don't have a close-"

"Just because they aren't close doesn't mean a father can't tell when his son is about to ask someone out. And even so, I hear things all the time."

"Why didn't I know-?"

"You've been in critical care for awhile now. You don't expect to learn that sort of thing when you're in a hospital bed, right?"

Star glanced at his feet. Shinji was keeping him from reaching his dream. That weak willed pansy was keeping him from claiming Rei as his own. It was strange, because he always assumed he had feelings toward Asuka. No, she probably just wanted him. He must be shy about his relationship-no, he did give her a few fleeting glances even before he was pummeled. How did he not see all these signs? His heart racing, Star glanced over at Ondorf, his face tense, jaw locked. "What do you think we should do about it?"

Ondorf crushed the cookie.

#

"So, did you try to think of three things you love to win at?"

Why was that shrink staring at Asuka like that? It bugged her. The way her eyes sparkled, how she seemed to be in such control. The walls around the German girl's heart would never be breached, so why did this woman try so hard to invade her boarders? Did she want to get published over this or something? Probably. She couldn't trust any of those damn shrinks. They all were a bunch of self-centered idiots.

Then again, maybe she herself was a bit self-centered.

"Piloting, anything athletic, and your damn children's card games. That good enough for you?" the redhead asked, her eyes narrowed.

"It's enough for now, yes," Dr. Tamako replied, smiling as she reclined backward, resting her hands on her lap, "Now, any new experiences you'd like to talk about?"

"Nothing happened lately."

"I see. Well, I guess we all have weeks like that. I heard you fought another Angel this-"

"No, I didn't."

Seeing a chance to strike, Dr. Tamako leaned closer, a sweet, yet eager smile on her lips. "But I'm pretty sure there was an angel attack recently."

"There was. I didn't fight it. It was dead by the time I got there."

"Oh, who should I congratulate for saving us?"

"Star."

"You mean the guy who canceled his appointment, eh? Shame I couldn't congratulate him personally. What's he like?"

"An asshole."

"Why's that? You don't happen to have feelings for-"

"Why would I feel attracted to a fuck-head like him!" Asuka snapped, red in the face, before she slowly calmed herself. Such words weren't the type a lady of high class such as herself should say. She was above this. In control. She could articulate her thoughts in a dignified, yet sincere-

"So what do you think about him?"

"He's a shit-for-brains fuck head!"

Smooth.

"Was he mean to you? Does he bully you?"

"None of your business."

"It doesn't feel good to feel bullied, does it?"

"Who said he was bullying me? I don't get bullied around!"

"But did he hurt your feelings? Did he hurt your pride?"

"That's none of your business!"

"It doesn't feel good to be humiliated like that, does it?"

"No, not at all! I hate-I don't see why I should be telling you any of this!"

"It mustn't feel good for people you humiliate, hmmm?"

"I-what?" Asuka's racing, furious heart settled down a bit as she stared at the psychologist sitting in front of her, eyes raised as her skin grew cold. "Who said I humiliate anyone?"

"Well, I'm not saying you do, but you look like the type of girl who says things she really doesn't mean without thinking the consequences through. Describe Shinji in a word."

She hesitated before saying, blushing, "Stupid."

"Rei?"

"Doll."

Bianca?"

Asuka took a bit longer before saying, "Sweet."

"Well, from the looks of things, it seems like you hiding something about Shinji."

"What? No, I'm-"

"C'mon, you like him!"

"Alright, now you're just acting immature."

"No, it's not a sin to like someone. It's just that, well, you need to go about it better. You see, when I met my husband, when we were in college, we were kinda the same way."

"Yeah, I doubt that."

"Oh yeah, we were. I also was wearing a padded bra to make my boobs seem bigger."

Clasping a hand around her chest, she stammered, "What? What the hell! How did you-how did you-?"

"I was a teenage girl many moons ago too, back when Pokemon was popular, but that's neither here nor there. Anyway, what happened was my husband, he met me on the campus, and started flirting more outright with me. And me, being the confident girl I was, tried to act all tough and cool. I brushed him off, calling him stupid and stuff, just like what you're saying to Shinji, I can assume, right?"

"Well, maybe a little."

"A little? Well, I did it a lot. Eventually, I met this other guy, who was this big manly man who fit my description of the ideal person in the world. So I started to date him. The next time I saw my future husband, the guy I had called stupid and dumb, I had four fractured ribs, a broken femur and a black-eye."

"The guy beat you?"

"Oh, no, he downright broke me," Dr. Tamako replied, melancholy, "Well, I can understand if you don't believe me, but here's a picture of me in intensive care." The shrink withdrew a photograph from her wallet, and showed it to the redhead. She stared at it, eyebrow raised. Indeed, this was her. Sure, she was ten or fifteen pounds lighter (even before having kids she wasn't even thin) but that was her. Asuka could even see the marks the knuckles of that man's fist left.

She was silent for a moment before saying, in a laugh, "Well, I just won't date an asshole."

"Yeah, well, harder than it sounds. Trust me. The point is that you shouldn't call a guy stupid who could potentially be a good boyfriend, you know?"

"Well, whatever. I don't abuse him, though. I don't treat him bad. Not really, anyway."

"Not really?" Dr. Tamako repeated, frowning slightly, "Well, listen, next week, I want you to come here and tell me five times you treated Shinji nicely. Now, how about another game of Rummy?"

Asuka lost again.

#

"I told Star exactly how I felt," Rei said, slowly, "I told him I didn't want to go with him. I apologize for not properly completing your objective."

"It's fine, Rei. It's a process. Just think: did it feel good to tell him what you thought?"

"Yes. It felt empowering," Rei said, her lips curling into a small little smile.

"It felt good to tell that guy what you thought?"

"Yes. For the first time in my life, I felt in control. I felt as though I could accomplish something independent to my purpose."

"Listen, Rei, if there is one thing you'd change in your life, what would it be?"

"One thing?" Rei considered this for a moment, before saying, slowly, "I'd want to date Ikari."

"You mean Commander or Sh-"

"Shinji."

"Right, right, just checking. Anyway, you should do that."

"I should what?"

"Ask him out. Totally, you should go and do that."

"I'm not sure if I'm capable of-" Rei felt a smile spread across her face. No, Dr. Tamako was right. Now was the time to exert herself to other people. She felt her body tense and unclench, felt the blood pulsate through her fingers. Now was the time to act.

However, Dr. Tamako's eyes widened for a moment before saying, "No, you know what, maybe we should take this a bit slower. Like let's work on having you-"

"I think I'm ready for this, doctor. Thank you so much-"

"Don't worry. But what if he says no?"

"He won't. I'm sure of it.

"Well, just keep in mind, they're plenty of fish out there in the sea."

"I'm afraid I don't understand what this has to do with Ikari."

"It's a figure of speech."

"I'm afraid I don't understand figures of speech as easily as other people do…"

#

"I went to school and practiced the cello. I'm sorry I didn't do more things I wanted."

"It's fine, really. Did you at least have fun doing all that?"

"Yes, I suppose," Shinji said, glancing off into the ceiling. He sighed, a moment later, as he said, slowly, "Asuka's really upset lately, since Star came back."

"Does she not like Star?"

"Well, he said a lot of cruel things about her, and really offended her. I helped, but now it seems to have gotten worse. I don't want to be attacked by legions of Star's fan girls and all, but I feel so bad for her, I-"

"Look, do you want to help her?"

"Yes, I-"

"Then do it. Don't wait. Just act."

Shinji was silent for a moment or two before saying, slowly, "Are you sure that's a good idea?"

"I'm positive. Do it."

"Well, if you're sure…"

#

"Are you sure you don't want to sabotage Unit-04 as in the original scenario?"

Ondorf stood before Keel's hologram, a single monolith drifting in the air above him. "The original scenario did not account for variables such as Bianca or Star to enter the picture. The new scenario makes it imperative that both Units enter the picture. The Eva Series is a means to total unifications. The more available, the more utensils we have for total assimilation."

"Yes, but it might be too complicated for us to control. And even worse, what if these two extra vessels are destroyed in combat? Then they'll just be an expensive liability."

"I am counting on that possibility. You fail to appreciate something very important, perhaps because I have withheld it until now."

"What?"

"The pilots of these two units will be Ikari's son's friends."


End file.
